What was the challenge?
London and Continental Railways (LCR) is an established developer and sustainable regeneration expert with a reputation as place makers; they exploit the development opportunities presented by railway stations in a socially responsible manner and, in so doing, deliver great value. Temple was appointed to develop a social sustainability policy that could guide, monitor and track the social value LCR add through their projects.
Over 25 years LCR have built up a reputation for creating value from underutilised public sector real estate assets working alongside key strategic railway locations to regenerate areas and create great places. Whilst the economic value added by these projects is easier to quantify, measuring and monitoring the social value generated by their schemes is more challenging.
LCR were already generating social value but a policy was needed to provide consistency, prioritise resource use and focus resources, and embed the process in the lifecycle of their projects from inception to planning and through construction.
What was our solution?
Temple worked with LCR to understand the unique opportunities their projects have to add social value locally whilst also meeting wider sustainability and public value initiatives in the business. Temple delivered a tailored approach combining strategic policy development with practical implementation tools. We began by conducting extensive research and stakeholder engagement to understand LCR’s unique position in delivering social value. Our comprehensive solution included:
- designing and delivering a series of interactive workshops to the LCR development management team on social value and the aspirations for the policy
- undertaking social research including a thematic mapping exercise of four key LCR projects to identify project level social sustainability themes and priorities unique to LCR
- writing a clear, concise, easy to understand definition of social sustainability unique to LCR
- drafting a social sustainability policy that is unique to LCR and their projects but also supports LCR’s overarching sustainability policy, Public Value Strategy, and wider business and strategic goals
- incorporating feedback from the workshops held into the development of the policy to create LCR ownership
- developing a consistent and easy to use process for identifying social priorities and promoting a lifecycle approach to monitoring and measuring social value
- identifying a series of key indicators and setting these out within a matrix to enable the measuring and monitoring of the social value-added
How did we add value?
Through this project, Temple delivered significant value to LCR by transforming their approach to social sustainability. Our work strengthened their position as an industry leader in sustainable development while providing practical tools for implementation.
We enhanced LCR’s capabilities by creating a framework that balanced ambition with practicality. The policy we developed was specifically designed to integrate with existing business processes, ensuring it would be both implementable and sustainable in the long term. This approach helped LCR move beyond viewing social value as a compliance exercise to embracing it as a core business driver.
The collaborative development process we implemented ensured strong buy-in across the organisation. By engaging key stakeholders through interactive workshops, we helped create a sense of ownership that was crucial for successful implementation. This engagement also allowed us to capture and incorporate diverse perspectives, resulting in a more robust and comprehensive policy.
Our work provided LCR with clear metrics and monitoring processes, enabling them to demonstrate their social impact to stakeholders, including public sector partners and local communities. This enhanced transparency and accountability has strengthened their position in negotiations and helped maintain their competitive advantage in the development sector.
The policy framework we developed has positioned LCR to better respond to evolving sustainability requirements and increasing stakeholder expectations around social value. By establishing clear processes for measuring and monitoring social impact, we’ve helped LCR build a stronger evidence base for their contribution to sustainable community development.
