By Flora Samuel Flora Samuel looks back at the recent history of social value and finds much to celebrate “In the context of the built environment, social value is created when buildings, places and infrastructure support environmental, economic and social wellbeing, and in doing so improve the quality of life of people.” This definition of social value, recently published by the UK Green Building Council, will I hope become the standard for the industry. The team have done a remarkable job in developing a diagram that somehow morphs Kate Raworth’s famous Doughnut and the commonly used triple bottom line of sustainability – social, economic and environmental. For me, as argued in the social value toolkit for architecture, we have to keep referring back to that triple bottom line as the basis of everything we do, not only because it aligns with the government’s