Beard, an award-winning contractor in the south of England, has announced the promotion of Paula Baleson to social value manager.
In the newly-created position, Paula will take the lead in defining a new company-wide strategy and provide support to a team of social value coordinators, ensuring Beard’s work and actions deliver wider social, economic and environmental benefits.
One of her first duties has been developing the company’s new social value framework. This will set out social value targets for the business for 2030, and will be rolled out across Beard’s entire team and its five regional offices in the coming months.
Paula joined Beard in 2022 as communications manager, having previously spent five years at building firm Midas Group. Having emigrated from South Africa in 2016, Paula joined Midas’s residential division, Mi-space, as business development and office coordinator, before moving into a central role as group marketing executive.
She has also spent time as marketing communications manager for water solutions company SDS Limited.
Across its 130-plus year history, Beard has been committed to social value through its sustainable construction, its charitable work and good relationships with the local communities in which it works.
But social value is becoming both more formalised in the construction sector, and increasingly important from both an ethical and business perspective, with a growing number of tender opportunities, including Government contracts, now having social and environmental requirements.
Beard’s social objectives and ambitions align well with the new Government’s agenda of supporting SMEs, increasing their spend with social enterprises and providing best value to customers. Alongside the introduction of the new Procurement Act in October this year – which is designed to make public procurement more accessible, efficient and beneficial for councils and suppliers – the Government has used its first King’s Speech to set out imminent plans to change planning regulations and increase infrastructure delivery.
Speaking on her promotion, Paula Baleson said: “I am incredibly proud to be taking this next step in my career with Beard and taking on such an important role. While Beard’s community, environmental and charitable spirit has always been clearly visible, the focus this new role brings enables us to really strengthen our efforts, particularly as social value continues to play an even bigger part in the construction sector in the UK.
“I’m hugely passionate about supporting everyone at Beard to create positive social, economic and environmental outcomes for local communities. The development of our social value framework will certainly help to facilitate this and I look forward to sharing this with all our colleagues, partners and customers very soon.”
Mike Hedges, company operations director at Beard, added: “As a proud family-run firm, Beard has always been a business with social consciousness. Our ongoing commitment of adding value to the communities in which we work and taking care of the planet, highlights the broader benefits of our projects. Beyond constructing buildings, we focus on ensuring that every project lives on beyond its site boundaries, delivering meaningful value to the entire community. Paula is a fantastic fit to lead this initiative, and along with her talented team, will ensure our work and our actions have a clear social footprint and a lasting legacy.”
Beard is a family-owned and run construction company based in Swindon, with a wealth of experience in both public and private sectors, including education, healthcare, sports, leisure and the arts. Alongside its head office in Swindon, Beard has regional offices in Bristol, Oxford, Guildford and Southampton.
For more information, please visit www.beardconstruction.co.uk.
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