Social Sustainability

Social sustainability and social value are moving steadily up the agenda — and the tools available to evaluate them are evolving too. But not all evaluation approaches focus on what matters most: the wellbeing of people and the protection of our planet.

Our Managing Director, Richard Lupo, has developed a science-based approach to measuring wellbeing in his book, Happiness by Numbers. The book describes:

  • The science of wellbeing measurement and its validity
  • A unified and meaningful metric for long-term wellbeing that incorporates environmental protection
  • Pathways for improving both wellbeing and environmental performance

Richard qualified as a WELL Accredited Professional and sits on the Institute of Sustainability and Environmental Professionals (ISEP) Social Sustainability Steering Group.

Interested in understanding and measuring social sustainability in a way that connects people’s wellbeing with environmental outcomes?

Happiness by Numbers is available from good bookshops, and the first chapter is available to read for free on our Publications page.

To start your SHIFT journey to sustainability

Contact Us

“SHIFT Environment’s report gave us clear insight into LHPs current sustainability performance and offers practical recommendations to improve. It’s been invaluable for guiding our environmental strategy across multiple areas of our organisation.”  

Sam Goodwin – Sustainability Manager, Lincolnshire Housing Partnership (LHP) – January 2026

‘‘It is important to us that we deliver both high quality and sustainable new homes. Annie has provided valuable guidance throughout the project, helping us to incorporate sustainability into our Employer’s Requirements in a way that is practical and achievable.’’

Thomas Hanson – Surveyor, West Kent Housing Association – January 2026

‘‘Our 2025 SHIFT assessment has highlighted both areas where we are strong, and opportunities for putting sustainability at the forefront of our operations moving forward.’’  

Benjamin James – Sustainability Manager, Moat Homes  – January 2026

“We are very pleased with our first SHIFT report, which provided valuable insight into both the strengths of our data collection and areas for improvement. We would like to thank Millie for her excellent work on the report for CHP. Her support throughout the process was greatly appreciated, and we look forward to working with SHIFT again in the future.”  

David George – Change Lead ‑ Assets, Sustainability and Assets Team, CHP  – January 2026

‘‘Our work with SHIFT this year provided valuable insight into our current position with environmental data and performance. The quality of analysis and sector benchmarking enabled us to better understand our progress and identify opportunities for the future. We look forward to continuing and expanding this work with SHIFT.’’ 

Laurence Denyer – Sustainability Specialist, A2Dominion  – February 2026

‘‘Thank you, Tom, for all the help with this and the prompt evaluation. We really appreciate the report and look forward to working with SHIFT again this year and seeing the impact of the improvements made.’’

Patrick McKendry – Sustainability Lead, Mosscare St Vincent’s Housing Group  – February 2026

“Steve combined great sector insight with robust baseline analysis to advise and guide us through introducing our foundational sustainability strategy which includes a measurable action plan, giving us confidence we can track progress towards our sustainability aims and deliver meaningful change.”

Richard DeVille – Development Director, English Rural – March 2026

“The energy audit report was thorough, insightful, and extremely valuable. Steve identified several key opportunities to improve efficiency and included clear, practical recommendations that we can act on straight away. A highly professional service that we would gladly recommend.”  

Emma Wright – Site Manager, The Genesis Centre  – March 2026

“SHIFT continues to illustrate Citizen’s environmental improvements year on year, and provides a basis for our evidence-based objectives moving forward.”

John Kyffin-Hughes – Sustainability Manager, Citizen Homes – March 2026 

“Given that SHIFT Environment are recognised as having a strong reputation for sustainability in the UK social housing sector, it was important to have our Sustainability Plan to 2030 assured by them. The result is a robust strategy which will drive improvements for our tenants across the homes we rent, the homes we build and the way we work.” 

Jonny Mobbs – Head of Sustainability, Midland Heart – April 2026

“Tom took the time to understand our priorities and context for developing our sustainability strategy and produced some clear and relevant recommendations. The proposed quarterly scorecard was particularly useful in helping us think about how to track progress. Overall, a valuable piece of work that has given us a stronger foundation to build from.” 

Patrick McKendry – Sustainability Manager, MSV  – May 2026

‘‘We have gained a much better understanding of our energy usage during the process of completing our SECR. Annie was able to provide support when addressing gaps in our consumption data with our energy broker, which enabled us to complete our new carbon footprint baseline for our recently merged organisation.’’ 

Sarah Moore – Sustainability Manager, SettleParadigm – July 2026

“Tom delivered both our SECR and SHIFT reports on time and to a high standard. The reports are clear and well presented and provide valuable insights to support our sustainability reporting.”  

Clare Gambrill – Performance & Data Insight Analyst, Coastline – July 2026