Director and Co-Founder
Phil Higham
Director and Co-Founder of RealWorth, Phil brings extensive experience in balancing the practical and commercial requirements of real estate development with the broader social opportunities and benefits that can come from responsible development.
His social value work includes advising on large urban extensions, major brown-field developments and growing in-house capability for organisations. He also led the authorship of the RICS code of practice on responsible business.
Outside of RealWorth, Phil chairs the Manchester B Local group of sustainable business, and is an active member of the Marine Conservation Society in North Wales.
My projects
WSP & Homes England: South East Warrington Urban Extension
The Southeast Warrington Urban Extension is set to deliver more than 4,200 homes, of which more than 30% will be affordable housing. The development has social value and inclusive design at its heart and aims to create a sustainable community with strong links into the existing urban area and town centre.
RealWorth was commissioned to create a Social Value Strategy for the scheme, to ensure that the construction, design, and occupation stages of the development maximised its benefits for local people. The Strategy will form part of the development framework, to be used by developers, constructors and operators of the site.
RealWorth also worked with Meeting Place to develop a data collection strategy to capture social value over the next 12 months using the agreed place-based indicators and the OECD wellbeing factors to capture people’s lived experience.
Case study
Everton Football Club: ‘The People’s Project'
Everton Football Club is currently in the process of building a new stadium at Bramley Moore Dock in Liverpool. The Club wanted to understand and optimise the social value created by the stadium move. “The People’s Project” was created, combining the development of the new stadium with a legacy project for the use of the existing stadium ground.
Everton FC appointed RealWorth to understand, measure and communicate the social value associated with its stadium move from Goodison Park to Bramley-Moore Dock.
This comprised a review of the Club’s charity Everton in the Community (EitC), the new stadium itself and the effect that the Legacy Project at Goodison was likely to have in the future.
Case study
U+I: Mayfield
The developer and regeneration specialist U+I was shortlisted to transform the Mayfield district of Manchester. RealWorth worked with the bid team to develop proposals and thinking to optimise the social value that could be generated by the scheme.
SROI was used in collaboration with the bid team to influence the concept design proposals.
Our work with U+I and its partners which include Manchester City Council has continued since U+I was appointed to the development partnership in 2016.