At Venesky Brown, social value is not a bolt-on. It is built into how we do business.
Through Elevate, our company-wide social value strategy, we focus on creating sustainable, meaningful and lasting impact in the communities where we work.
Our approach is aligned to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and recognised by the Social Value Quality Mark, where we were first awarded the Bronze accreditation in 2024 and now hold the Silver award.
Meaningful work has the power to change lives, strengthen communities and create lasting impact. Through Elevate, our social value strategy, we are committed to building a better future across the industries, people and places we support.
Launched in 2024, Elevate is our company-wide social value strategy built around seven key pledges where we can make the most impact.
Each pledge is supported by measurable outcomes, aligned to the SDGs, and delivered through a network of internal champions, client partnerships, and community stakeholders.
We're using Elevate not just to measure what we do, but to drive how we work, making social value part of all of our business decisions.
We align our Elevate strategy with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals because we believe businesses have an important role to play in creating a fairer, greener and more inclusive world.
Our focus areas are designed to deliver measurable impact across wellbeing, education, employment, community and environmental responsibility.
Aligned to UN SDGs 3, 4, 5, 8 and 13.
Elevate focuses on the areas where we can make the biggest difference for our people, our clients and our communities.
We promote good mental and physical health across our workforce and supply chain, including our commitment to train at least one in ten people as Mental Health First Aiders and our partnerships with organisations such as Mates in Mind and Lighthouse.
We support quality education and lifelong learning through apprenticeships, placements and employability workshops, including educational sessions delivered to schools and colleges and employability programmes with partners such as Rock Trust.
We remove barriers to decent work by engaging directly with people who are under-represented or distant from the job market, including ex-offenders, veterans and voluntary returners to work. Our teams also track and promote staff volunteering across contracts.
We manage our environmental footprint through our ISO 14001 certified management system and our journey towards ISO 50001 and Net Zero by 2045, including reduced commuting and lower-carbon ways of working.
We prioritise responsible, local and SME-focused procurement, recognising that where and how we spend is an investment in inclusive growth and thriving local economies.
We underpin social value with clear policies, transparent reporting and accountable leadership, including our Social Value Charter, Elevate pledges and refreshed Equality, Diversity and Inclusion commitments.
2024–2025
2024–2025 has been a foundational year for Elevate. This timeline shows how far we have come in twelve months.
January 2024 — Strategy
We Launched Our Elevate Strategy Across the Business
In January we launched Elevate across the business, setting out our seven key pledges and committing to measurable social value outcomes for the year ahead. Elevate marks a shift from reporting on social value to embedding it into how we make decisions every day.
Health & Wellbeing
We Trained Over 10% of Our Workforce as Mental Health First Aiders
We trained over 10% of our workforce as Mental Health First Aiders, reinforcing our commitment to creating safer and more supportive working environments across every project we deliver.
Community
We Chose Lighthouse as Our National Charity Partner
We chose Lighthouse Charity as our national charity partner, committing to fundraising and awareness activity across our operations to support the mental health and wellbeing of construction workers and their families.
Governance & EDI
We Built Systems to Monitor Supply Chain, Wellbeing and EDI
We built systems to monitor supply chain performance, workforce wellbeing and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion data, giving us the insight to act on our commitments rather than just report on them.
Education & Skills
We Delivered Educational Sessions to Schools and Colleges
We delivered 12 educational sessions to schools and colleges in 2025, alongside employability workshops at HMP Peterborough, Wayland, Grampian and Norwich, helping young people and those furthest from the job market build skills, confidence and awareness of employment opportunities.
Accreditation
We Achieved Our First Social Value Quality Mark Accreditation
We achieved our first Social Value Quality Mark accreditation, independently verifying our commitment to creating measurable social value and providing a framework for continuous improvement across our business.
Employment & Opportunity
We Created New Apprenticeships, Placements and Volunteering Opportunities
We created new apprenticeships, placements and volunteering opportunities, helping people access employment, build skills and develop long-term careers across the industries and communities we serve.
Scroll or drag through the cards, then select one to read more
Our first full year of Elevate has laid strong foundations and delivered measurable results across our pledges.
of our workforce trained as Mental Health First Aiders
educational sessions delivered to schools and colleges in 2025
prisons engaged through employability workshops, reaching more than 150 individuals
community engagement events in 2025
We work closely with our clients to design social value outcomes that are relevant to local needs and aligned to project KPIs and frameworks. From major nuclear and energy programmes to rail upgrades and public sector frameworks, social value is planned from mobilisation and managed throughout the project for reliable and data-driven outcomes.
Meaningful change does not happen in isolation. We work with a range of partners to deliver social value through training, wellbeing, employability and community support.
Supporting Career Returners: As part of its commitment to building inclusive workplaces and creating meaningful opportunities, Venesky Brown launched a new partnership with Making Work
Inspiring Young Minds: As part of its ongoing commitment to delivering meaningful social value, Venesky Brown partnered with The Safety Superhero Academy to bring a
Supporting Young People: At Venesky Brown, we believe we have a core responsibility to support the communities we work within and make a meaningful, positive
Social Value Partner
“I wanted to share the positive news… After the first drop-in session where your team spoke to a young man who we work with, he attended an interview and was successfully offered the job, citing the workshop as giving him a confidence boost in the interview. Thank you so much for supporting us and him with this session – it’s already made a huge difference and we’re so grateful!”
Joanne Simpson
Partnership Lead, Rock Trust
We are committed to supporting people who are under-represented or distant from the job market, including ex-offenders and veterans. In 2025 our team delivered engagement sessions in four UK prisons, combining employer insight with lived experience and reaching more than 150 individuals. We are also proud signatories of the Armed Forces Covenant and hold the Bronze Employer Recognition Scheme award, offering fair opportunities and flexibility for veterans, reservists and service leavers.
Whether you are an organisation we already work with or a new client planning a framework, mobilising a project or looking for a partner to help deliver your social value commitments, our team can help you understand where we can add value and translate ambitions into measurable outcomes.
04.
Social & Community
We invest in strong communities by supporting local initiatives, tackling loneliness and social isolation, and enabling our people to use two paid volunteering days each year to support causes that matter to them.