East West Rail (EWR) is a nationally significant railway project which aims to deliver 130 miles of transport connections for communities between Oxford and Cambridge. With new links between 14 stations, it is the largest construction project in the Oxford-Cambridge Arc.
The East West Railway Company (EWR Co.) is overseeing both the delivery and operation of the railway and is uniquely placed to maximise Social Value (SV) for the Arc’s 3.8 million residents and 203,340 businesses in the long term.
Useful Projects was appointed as Social Value Partner to EWR Co. in August 2021 to embed SV across the project’s entire lifecycle, including the development, design, delivery, and operation of the railway.
A nationally significant project
Our role involved five work stages:
- A Social Value Strategy.
- A Socio-Economic Impact Forecast.
- An Organisational Delivery Plan.
- A Procurement and Commercial Delivery Plan.
- Implementation Support.
Our work with EWR Co. applies recommendations in the landmark ‘Maximising Social Value from Infrastructure Projects’ report we developed with the Institution of Civil Engineers.
