The Impact Evaluation Standard has added another senior industry figure to its steering committee.

Sophie Timms, Kier Group corporate affairs director, has more than 20 years’ experience in public and corporate affairs, communications and sustainability.

Her extensive experience will be critical to the committee which oversees the social value framework and its guiding principles.

In 2019, she was awarded Freedom of the City of London for her services to diversity. She also spearheaded a Youth Skills’ programme involving inner city London schools from 2017 to 2020 and, more recently, she has been appointed to represent Kier on the Social Mobility Commission’s Employer Advisory Group, to increase social mobility In the workplace.

“I look forward to being a member of the steering committee and working closely with the IES,” said Timms.

“There’s a lot of disparity in how social value is measured and it’s crucial that we have clear guidelines in place. This will mean that companies are working to the same methodology and are able to understand how they can better support the communities we work in.”

Passionate about creating opportunities for all in the built environment, she has supported career progression in property and construction through her work with the Mentoring Circle.

The steering committee is an independent panel of practitioners and thought leaders who ensure that the Impact Evaluation Standard remains the UK’s pre-eminent and most robust framework for measuring and monetising social value.

Timms’ role will include helping to keep the metrics, proxy values and guidance of IES at a gold standard level for social value measurement and reporting.

Kier has a longstanding commitment to social value and was the first contractor in the UK to be awarded the Social Value Quality Mark Level 2, as well as using the IES themselves to measure and monetise its social value activities. By joining the committee, Timms will ensure that the IES continues to benchmark the work of Kier Group, and its many other users across a wider variety of industries, to the very highest standards.

Find out more about the Impact Evaluation Standard at https://impactevaluationstandard.org/