Shape My City opens up possibilities to talented young people they might not otherwise have access to. The award-winning scheme offers a year-long programme of workshops and seminars for students aged 15 -18 interested in a career in the built environment. AWW will host one of these workshops to support this year’s cohort on their design journey to foster a more equitable and diverse workforce for the future.

Our commitment to future generations is just one of the pledges we’ve made as part of achieving the Social Value Quality Mark® Level 1 award. The Quality Mark recognises commitment to doing business in a way that benefits society and the planet. It is one of the most rigorously tested awards of its kind.

To achieve the accreditation, we made a series of pledges defined by our Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) mission that is committed to delivering quality architecture and interior design through:

(E – Environmental) Creating a net-gain environmental impact.

(S – Social) Enhancing people’s quality of life.

(G - Governance) Fostering relationships and developing partnerships for delivery that support our core values and improve our ability as designers and advocators to effect positive change.

Associate and Architect Heather Rees heads up our Social Value Team; “It’s great to see all the good things we do as a business recognised and I’m pleased that we’re setting ourselves tangible targets to hold us accountable.”

We define Social Value as ‘the positive impact our organisation creates for society through its actions and operations’. Design West align with our business values and we are delighted to be a part of their programme to provide opportunity to under-represented young people in the city.

Pursuing social value accreditation has provided us with a better understanding of the social value impact that we have through design and will enable us to continually improve our ability to make a tangible positive difference to people’s lives.

Richard Dickins, MD of Social Value Quality Mark CIC, says: “Today’s consumers increasingly make their decisions based on how companies treat their staff, the environment and society. This award recognises AWW’s outstanding commitment to create, report and embed social value. It’s great to see this commitment backed up through the Shape My City partnership, supporting young people into the industry.”

Social Value Business were a key part of this journey, helping us conduct a comprehensive review of our current actions, operations and policies, leading to eight key pledges. The pledges frame our core values and are monitored through a series of key value indicators (KVIs), providing us with a quantifiable way of measuring and recording social value impact.

We are extremely proud to have been awarded the Social Value Quality Mark® Level 1. This is a key milestone for us as it will enable us to reach further and support our communities and partners better in helping them to achieve their own social value goals.

Sustainability Director Tim Forster notes that “Our Social Value Quality Mark accreditation has been such a rewarding journey for us, assisting us in creating an accountable ESG framework for continual improvement. AWW is committed to helping unlock the huge potential for transition in the construction industry to becoming equitable and regenerative. This is exactly what Shape My City is about and I’m delighted we can participate in Design West’s fantastic programme.”

Founded in 1996, Design West is a centre of excellence for design and placemaking based on Bristol harbourside. The charity’s mission is to inspire the public, politicians and professionals across the built environment to design better, healthier places to live, work and relax. Programmes including Bristol Open Doors, Shape My City, Design Review and public talks are devised to inspire, inform and involve people in the design of the world around them. Design West work across sectors and society and are international and local, bringing people together to shape better places.

Photography courtesy of Design West, Shape My City. Photographer: Chris Wilkins

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