Dominvs Group, the leading London-based real-estate platform and investment group, has today announced the strategic acquisition of leading social value consultancy SeerBridge.

The acquisition of SeerBridge will also see the creation of a new dedicated in-house Social Value Unit within Dominvs Group, focussed on ensuring that social value and community investment are properly integrated and evaluated at all points in the development lifecycle of the Group’s real estate projects.

The strategic acquisition sees Wesley Ankrah, founder of SeerBridge, join Dominvs as Director of Social Value and Community Investment, making the Group one of the first real estate developers to have a Director-level team member responsible for integrating social value into all phases of development. He will ensure Dominvs applies a social value lens at all points in the development process from initial land acquisition through to asset management.

The announcement signals the firm’s emphasis that Dominvs Group will now put on social value and community impact as it continues to grow rapidly, which it thinks is critical for success as a modern and responsible developer. The news also forms part of Dominvs Group’s strategy to be ‘best in class’ across not only acquisition, design, planning, and development, but also social value as well.

Alongside Ankrah, the acquisition will see SeerBridge’s team join Dominvs. Taken together the new team bring years of experience project managing and delivering social impact projects, as well as specialist research expertise in identifying, measuring, and quantifying social value in the built environment sector.

As well as advising Dominvs Group on creative strategies for generating social value, the new team will codify Dominvs’ social value and community investment commitments into a new Social Value Charter and introduce social value training for new and existing hires as it seeks to integrate social responsibility into all areas of the business.

Wesley Ankrah founded SeerBridge in 2018. SeerBridge has since gone on to establish itself as one of the best-known social value consultancies in the built environment space, working for leading developers such as Berkeley Group, Galliard Homes, and U+I.

Before founding SeerBridge, Ankrah was founder and Managing Director of Essential Living Future CIC, the social enterprise partner of leading residential developer Essential Living, which focussed on improving the lives of disadvantaged people in London. He previously held a number of roles in the charity and youth engagement sector, including as a Service Delivery Manager at Catch22, the non-profit focussed on making communities more resilient.

Jay Ahluwalia, the Dominvs senior Director who led the acquisition, said:
“As a family business, Dominvs has always been built on the values of integrity, inclusiveness, and generosity. Bringing SeerBridge into the business will supercharge our commitment to those values – as well as ensure that they are integrated into all parts of the business and firmly embedded into our corporate DNA.

“As a team, it has always been our goal to build a ‘best in class’ business – and we have recognised that achieving this means not only having the top talent to deliver leading developments, but ensuring that these developments also deliver industry-leading impact for communities.

“We have worked with SeerBridge for over a year, and I noticed early on the value they would add to our business. They are market leaders in making the built environment much more cognisant of the communities that live and breathe around development sites.

“We are therefore delighted to announce that we have acquired SeerBridge, who will integrate their principles throughout Dominvs, allowing us to put social value firmly at the core of our business.

“As the business grows, we have a phenomenal opportunity to leverage our platform to create incredible benefits for communities, and my excitement for this cannot be overstated.”

Wesley Ankrah, Director of Social Value and Community Investment at Dominvs Group, said: “Having worked closely with Dominvs and the team over the last year, I have come to realise just how closely aligned we are on the importance of social value. I couldn’t think of a better place to join – nor a better custodian for the team and business I have built over the last three years.

“We are delighted to be joining Dominvs, a business built on family values with a deep sense of impact. The timing of the opportunity to pursue this acquisition was perfect and will allow us to deliver on the amazing opportunities we have advised on in the past.

“Ultimately, our ambition is to raise the bar within the industry because that’s what real estate developments should be about – enhancing the quality of life of people and creating positive societal change for surrounding communities.

“I have loved being a consultant for the last three years and have worked with some of the leading lights of the built environment. However, the events of past 18 months have reminded me that there is another dimension to the work we are passionate about – involvement in the delivery of social value projects.

“What the pandemic has shown me is that I miss helping people on the frontline, and when I saw the disruption and decimation of many community programmes, I felt an urge to be more involved again on a day-to-day basis. The pandemic brought a lot into focus for me, and I have to say my priorities have changed with regards to what I want from life now.

“Moving forward, I still intend to contribute to the wider social value space in the built environment sector through the likes of Social Value UK and its membership body.”