People / Organization
Erik Bichard and Phil Higham / RealWorth, Social Value UK

Leaders in sustainable development join Social Value UK

Burgess COMMENTARY
Erik Bichard: Congratulations on getting RealWealth up and running. There are technologies to have a much better sustainable world but substantial business and lifestyle changes are needed. I'd like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.- Peter Burgess
Peter Burgess

Leaders in sustainable development join Social Value UK

Erik Bichard (left) and Phil Higham of RealWorth

Professor Erik Bichard and Phil Higham have joined Social Value UK/Social Value International as organisational members following the launch of their company RealWorth. The company primarily values the social and environmental change of built environment projects, programmes and investments. They have wide set client groups ranging from developers and investors in property, through to membership bodies and local authorities, social landlords and place-making social enterprises. Their approach is based on the use of multiple social, material and ecological valuation methods, and is underpinned by the pair’s long association with the development and construction community.

Erik is based in Liverpool and developed the methods employed by RealWorth while working as a Professor of Regeneration and Sustainable Development. As an individual member he was invited onto the Social Value UK Council and also serves on the Social Value International Methodology Sub-Committee. He is a former executive director of the UK National Centre for Business and Sustainability and a Trustee of the social enterprise the FRC Group. Erik said: “while conventional methods of valuation used by built environment professionals mainly focus on the market-based and the physical, RealWorth puts a value on the social and environmental changes experienced by people who are the most affected by development decisions”.

Phil, a Manchester-based chartered surveyor, has had a full and varied career in international development and leadership roles at companies including Laing O’Rourke and Rider Levett Bucknall. Phil said “we have always thought that society in general, and the built environment industry in particular, fails to value the importance of social and environmental factors when making decisions that affect people’s lives. Our business has been created to redress this shortfall.”

The company has secured a contract with an innovative social enterprise in Pittsburgh that empowers local people to improve the environmental conditions of their underinvested neighbourhoods and is in the final stages of negotiations to be appointed a key advisor to one of the largest mixed use development schemes in the north of England.

News of RealWorth’s innovative approach has also spread to Malmo and Vienna where Professor Bichard has spoken of the need to value things differently to avoid further division in society.

For more information see the RealWorth website.

RealWorth will also be taking a lead on the Social Value UK ‘Social Value in the Built Environment’ working group, which will launch in the new year. We are very excited about this, for more information or to request to join, visit our Working Groups list.

Press Contacts

Real Worth
E: askus@realworth.org T: +44 (0)20 7193 7235
Christina Berry-Moorcroft, Membership and Communications Coordinator, Social Value UK
E: christina.moorcroft@socialvalueuk.org
T: 0151 703 9229

About RealWorth

RealWorth is a consultancy that represents a unique blend of skills combining academic and commercial expertise to help our clients to create better and more sustainable outcomes for their organisations and wider society.

About Social Value UK

Social Value UK is the national network for anyone interested in social value and social impact. We work with our members to increase the accounting, measuring and maximising of social value from the perspective of those affected by an organisation’s activities, through our Social Value Principles. We believe in a world where a broader definition of value will change decision making and ultimately decrease inequality and environmental degradation. To achieve our mission, Social Value UK provides training and assurance services, as well as hosting regular meetings and events, creating new tools and resources, and running campaigns. Through supporting and working with our members, and as a National Member Network of Social Value International, we are creating an international movement for change.

A university professor and leading expert in renewable building and an international commercial development director have formed a new venture to enable organisations to put a price on social and environmental change and help them make better and more sustainable decisions.

Professor Erik Bichard and Phil Higham have launched North West-based company RealWorth, founded on a new approach called Sustainable Return on Investment (SuROI). SuROI places a monetary value on social and environmental change, enabling clients such as policy makers, developers, investors and planners to tackle inequality and reduce environmental deterioration.

Their aim is to help create a future where everyone’s quality of life is improved because social and environmental impacts are fully valued in every policy, investment and development decision. Liverpool-based Professor Erik Bichard, university lecturer in regeneration and sustainable development and a former executive director of the UK National Centre for Business and Sustainability, said: “While conventional methods of valuation used by built environment professionals mainly focus on the market-based and the physical, SuROI puts a value on the social and environmental changes experienced by the very people who are affected by policies, investments and development decisions. We do this by focusing on several key areas including health, crime, skills, employment, wellbeing and ecology.

“Change is often best understood through the people who experience it. This is why SuROI is a stakeholder-led process.”

Phil Higham, a Manchester-based chartered surveyor, with a career in international development and leadership roles at companies including Laing O’Rourke and Rider Levett Bucknall. “We have always thought that society fails to value the importance of social and environmental factors when making decisions that affect people’s lives. Our business has been created to redress this shortfall.”

The company has already secured a contract with an innovative social enterprise in Pittsburgh that empowers local people to improve the environmental conditions of their under-invested neighbourhoods. Professor Bichard and Phil Higham are also in the final stages of negotiations to be appointed as key advisors to one of the largest mixed use development schemes in the north of England. News of RealWorth’s innovative approach has also spread to Malmo and Vienna where Professor Bichard has spoken of the need to value things differently to avoid further division in society.

Our Approach

What Does RealWorth Do?

We provide the answer to a very simple question; what is the value and benefit of social and environmental change?

How is it Possible to Calculate the Value of Social and Environmental Change?

Using our unique, credible and well-evidenced approach to place a monetary value on social and environmental change, we help our clients create better and more sustainable outcomes for their organisations and wider society.

While conventional methods of valuation used by built environment professionals mainly focus on the market-based and the physical, SuROI puts a value on the social and environmental changes experienced by the very people who are affected by policies, investments and development decisions. We do this by focussing on a number of key areas including health, crime, skills, employment, wellbeing and ecology.

Change is often best understood though the people who experience it. This is why SuROI is a stakeholder led process.

Our approach combines evidence taken directly from consulting with the people who are materially affected by the change (stakeholders) with publicly available statistics on social and environmental conditions and verifiable studies that describe how change affects different groups and people.

RealWorth uses a range of accepted and robust welfare economic approaches such as Social Return on Investment, Ecosystem Services Analysis, Wellbeing Valuation, social impact elements of Life Cycle Assessment and others to understand sustainable change.

The evidence-based nature of the information used by RealWorth makes it ideal for organisational decision-making, influencing and for supporting propositions, reporting on achievements and requests for funding or permissions.

To ensure that our work is reliable, consistent and auditable, we have adopted the Seven Principles of Social Value as set out by Social Value International.

Who We Are

RealWorth is a consultancy that represents a unique blend of skills combining academic and commercial expertise to help our clients to create better and more sustainable outcomes for their organisations and wider society.

Our work is currently focussed predominantly in the UK. We are also working in North America and mainland Europe and have ambitions to extend our services to other parts of the world.

Overview of Business Purpose and Philosophy

We have always thought that society fails to value the importance of social and environmental factors when making decisions that affect peoples’ lives. Our business was created to redress this shortfall.

We work with policy makers, developers, investors and planners. Using our unique, credible and well-evidenced Sustainable Return on Investment (SuROI) approach we place a monetary value on social and environmental change.

We work with organisations to put a price on social and environmental change and to help them achieve better, more sustainable outcomes. Our ultimate aim is to help to create a future where everyone’s quality of life is improved because social and environmental impacts are valued in every policy, investment, and development decision

We are a values-led organisation that likes to challenge and improve conventional wisdom on investment and development; stimulate our clients’ thinking to add social and environmental value to their plans; and listen, learn, share, and collaborate.