(C) Savills

By Wesley Ankrah

“There you go givin’ a **** when it ain’t your turn to give a ****.”
— Bunk Moreland, The Wire

If you know me, you’ll know I can’t go a day without quoting The Wire,  the critically acclaimed TV show set in Baltimore, USA and the inspiration behind my career change.

So when I sat down to write this, that quote instantly sprung to mind.

Why do I care so much about social value still? And why has UKREiiF been so pivotal in helping me keep caring?

I was reflecting on my first UKREiiF back in 2022 and how both the event, social value, and I have changed and I’m genuinely struck by how far things have come in just four years for UKREiiF, but can the same be said for social value?

I’ll be honest, before this year’s UKREiiF, I was a bit disillusioned with the social value sector.

As some of you will know, I’ve spent years trying to make the sector more credible, something that could stand proudly next to its ESG cousin (the E), something that if we are all honest about it, hasn’t been achieved at anywhere near the level it should be, but why is that?

At this year’s UKREiiF we had round two of the Social Value Summit, which had started in 2024, in essence because I was fed up and frustrated with the social value sector and that frustration boiled over into action.

After a few interesting conversations with various friends, colleagues and industry leaders in social value, there was a clear appetite to talk amongst the sector, but nowhere for to meet and speak.

Up steps Nathan Spencer and UKREiiF…

To paraphrase Nathan he said something like, “if you can get all those people to agree to meet at UKREiiF I’ll give you a room”!

Well I did, and he had to, but Nathan was also generous enough to give the session two days in a great setting the War Gallery (was there something ironic about that room being allocated to us), a great master of ceremonies in Phil Laycock and some subsidised entry for the social value community who wouldn’t ordinarily be at UKREiiF.

I hear you asking the burning question “Why did I ask UKREiiF in the first place?” It’s simple, I trust them when it comes to social value.

From their first event in, they showed genuine interest in social value. They had even asked me to write an article ahead of the first conference back in 2022, which I can’t even remembered what I wrote now!

UKREiiF also gave me my first industry award: Social Value Entrepreneur of the Year. I didn’t think I had a chance of winning and that award did wonders for my career, but even more for my confidence. I’d love to see those awards come back in some form (hint hint Nathan).

So yes, I owe UKREiiF a lot and with Nathan’s green light, I started pulling something together and speaking to people.

It was harder and more time consuming than I expected, but after plenty calls and meetings, we had assembled a decent bunch of people, with about 20 odd coming to Leeds in May 2024 and we did we do?

We talked. And talked. And talked some more.

We “therapised” social value, it felt over those two days.

There was no formal agenda. People gave up time and travelled far to be part of this because conversation was long overdue.

By day one, it felt like old sector rifts were healing and like those family feuds where no one even remembers the original dispute.

There was a renewed openness on discussions and solutions that the sector could embrace.

Off the back of the successful two day summit, we launched four working groups and I finally felt some renewed belief social value. So many people signed up to keep the momentum going, and a special thanks goes to the people who led the groups Vivienne King (Measurement), Neil McDonald (Governance) and Isabelle Parassam (VDSE & SME’s), with me taking on the chair role for the Investors, Clients and Metrics group. The best outcome of all of this is there’s been a movement and forward momentum from all involved and ‘fixing’ social value.

What’s gone wrong?

So why did the summit happened in the first place? Bluntly put, social value needs to stop talking about social value and start to become the norm in real estate language. My MD at Savills said something last year that has really struck me about the relationship between social value and real estate, “Real estate still has a lot to prove its value to society”, this is not just true, but also quite obvious. Real estate is so misunderstood for many reasons, in terms of value it creates for people in all places and spaces.

So what has changed?

Four years ago, social value was a murmur in the majority of boardrooms and investment committees (with some notable early adopters), but now it’s influencing place based decision making and positively impacting asset value, but has it done enough?

In the same time UKREiiF has become a bit of a phenomenon in four years. Can we say the same for social value? Not yet, and we should be able to.

So how so we change that?

Look at health and safety. It went from “the stick” (clipboard compliance) to “the carrot”, where a bad score or reputation costs your business, and the best talent won’t work for you.

That’s the journey social value needs to take.

I’ve joked lately that I’ve “retired” from social value. And in a way, I have, I’m done trying to force businesses to do it. If you don’t already see social value as an investment, not a cost, you’re not maximising your return already. You’ve been warned!

We see the best occupiers choosing the best spaces, hiring the best people, and paying the best rates for those spaces, just look at the prime office market for your proof and who is taking those leases.

Those who “get it” are already seeing both financial and social returns.

And while I can’t yet tell you exactly how much more your assets are worth… we’re working on it, I can with good confidence tell you it is positive.

Social value has already shown the real estate sector what it’s capable of, but we haven’t progressed fast enough, that’s on us, the social value sector.

How do we change that?

It’s simple: stop just being “social value  people.” Become more real estate people.

Real estate isn’t perfect. Commercial considerations are tough. But it offers the most tangible opportunities to drive social change within our communities, in my opinion.

And here’s something we don’t say enough:

Real estate is awesome.

I love real estate and everything it’s enabled me to do from a personal perspective.

When I walk past some construction sites, I know there are social value initiatives coming to life behind those hoardings, some of which are ideas I’ve driven. That’s an amazing feeling!

I’ve said for years: Social value is an investment, not a cost. Now is the time to prove it.

I’m a real estate person now, not just a social value person, and I couldn’t be prouder of that. We need the next generation to feel that pride too. The next gen of talent should be coming to real estate not drifting off into tech careers because we offer something that is so much more tangible.

So, what are my concluding thoughts?

Social value isn’t going anywhere. So let’s step up and do this properly.

And on that note, I’ve agreed with Nathan to coordinate and host the next Social Value Summit at UKREiiF 2026.

I hope this becomes a permanent fixture in the real estate calendar, just like UKREiiF itself.

See you there.