Social responsibility means taking an inclusive, transparent, responsive and accountable approach to those involved in the project and wider society. Stakeholder engagement is critical to achieving this aim. It is not complicated. It means understanding and responding to ways in which the construction project affects and is affected by different stakeholders. Stakeholder engagement is a recognised way of enabling and managing the involvement of parties that have an interest in your construction project.
Not only is engaging stakeholders useful for enabling social responsibility by helping identify and manage social issues, there are also clear drivers from government and legislation. Construction projects in particular are required by law to conduct consultation processes in the scoping phase of the project as part of the planning process. Indeed, one of the main purposes of applying for planning permission is to demonstrate that local stakeholders / groups have been engaged in the development of the project.
There are four basic steps:
The ENGAGE-CONSTRUCT Navigator describes these steps in more detail.