Beard Construction has unveiled significant commitments to supporting communities, people and skills, and the environment through its new Social Value Framework.

It's a first for the 130-year-old business and reinforces the company’s dedication to deliver meaningful and lasting benefits to communities across the south of England.

Beard outlines a number of ambitions to achieve by 2030 - including a £500,000 fundraising drive for charities, creating 30,000 touchpoints to inspire new entrants to the sector, and cutting carbon emissions.

Paula Baleson, who was promoted to the new role of social value manager earlier this year, said: "The construction sector has enormous potential to make a positive impact on people's lives and on the communities that we work in, beyond the boundaries of each site.

"Our Social Value Framework is designed to formalise our approach as a company to ensure benefits for our colleagues, customers and stakeholders, as well as for the business as a whole. It gives us a collective focus and I’m proud of the momentum that we've already built."

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Social value coordinators in each of the company’s five regional offices are supporting Paula with the Framework. This year, Beard colleagues recognised all six of these champions as 'employees of the month' for their efforts in promoting social value.

Mark Beard, company chairman and fourth-generation family member leading the firm, said: "Creating a better future for the communities from which we draw resources has always been an integral part of how we work. This commitment is shared by our colleagues and supply chain, whose efforts enable us to bring meaningful and lasting value beyond our construction contracts.

"The introduction of our Social Value Framework allows us to measure our impact, which will give impetus to our continued investment in communities, local businesses and environmental sustainability.

"This remains at the forefront of our work, whilst also opening up exciting new career opportunities for our social value team, who have made commendable progress this year already."

Enabling pathways into the industry and boosting construction skills are a key priority area for Beard. It's one that resonates with wider business objectives and industry needs, and where the social value team sees huge potential to elevate their impact.

As an example, Beard partnered with Swindon and Wiltshire Careers Hub to produce a ‘hard hats, high dreams’ video. Featuring interviews with real employees explaining their career journey, the video has been live-streamed to schools in the region. Teachers were able to share questions, with Beard colleagues answering in real-time. It has reached around 9,500 primary school aged children and will be accessible online through LearnLive until July 2025.

Beard has also rolled out a series of hoarding designs, putting faces to the variety of people and roles behind successful construction projects and aiming to inspire people to consider a career in construction.