Guy Schmidt - Head of Compliance and Performance

What is your role?

I am the head of compliance and performance here at Pick Everard, with my role centring around embedding social value policy and processes across everything we do. This team provides management information and ensures that processes and procedures are compliant and fit-for-purpose.

Why is social value so important in the work we do?

In recent years, we have seen clear development of understanding across the sector about the importance of social value, which has led to continuous improvements of processes and measurement tools. Since being made mandatory across the public sector for local authorities as well as central government, social value has been seen as a tick box exercise, but many are now going beyond this thanks to their appreciation of the positive impact driving social value creates.

What work have you been involved in?

My focus has been dedicated to realising our social value potential by investing a considerable amount of time in sustainability and systems engineering. I have helped develop policies, procedures and delivery mechanisms across a number of clients and projects.


I work on driving improvement across the whole business through the implementation of firm-wide work streams to innovate the way we do things. This includes project process reviews, in which I collaborate with our project teams about what is or isn’t working and where improvements can be made.

You also worked on a Knowledge Transfer Partnership between Loughborough University and Perfect Circle – what did this achieve?

After completing my PhD at Loughborough University, I joined Pick Everard in 2018 on a knowledge transfer partnership, which focused on the measurement of social value in built environment projects.


One of my proudest achievements so far has been enabling the measurement and data capture for social value activities across the Perfect Circle BECS framework. Through this work we were able to understand the wider positive impact of the framework which delivered £68m in social value add to the communities across the UK.


This enabled my previous experience in research to come into play as we worked directly with partners and the supply chain in developing a unified view of social value through our vision and training.

Your forward-thinking approach led to the development of a social value app that is now being used across multiple clients, frameworks and projects. Please can you tell us more about it?

The app was developed after identifying key gaps in the evaluation process of social value and is a data gathering platform that allows users to capture the social value they work on through their projects and activities.

Users are able to view a profile in which they can see their previous activity and compare it to current work, so they are continually able to improve processes.

What are your aspirations in the business?

I’m dedicated to promoting social value and performance development activities throughout the industry, and to continuously improve our knowledge and approach to social value at Pick Everard. It’s really important to us as a business to leave a positive impact on the communities we serve, creating a better future for all, so I will continue to develop best practice content and share my passion for social value with our teams, clients and partners to ensure a fairer process for all.

What kind of activity do you do outside of work to drive social value personally?

For me, giving back to my community is incredibly important and not just something I find important for my job. Outside work, I’m always engaging and supporting community charities that tackle issues such as loneliness, food poverty, access to transport and isolation.

We’re a growing team and have a range of national opportunities offering career progression and high job satisfaction. Explore our vacancies here. Or if you would like an initial confidential discussion please contact Hope Thorley, Pick Everard Talent Acquisition Business Partner, on 07469 089129 or by email at hopethorley@pickeverard.co.uk”