ABOUT SONAR ENGAGEMENT
We didn't start in a boardroom.
There's a version of this page where we tell you Sonar is a specialist community engagement and social value consultancy with a proven track record across the UK's infrastructure sector. All of that's true. But it doesn't tell you why Sonar is different. The difference starts on the most deprived streets in the Midlands. And a police officer who learned to really listen.
THE FOUNDER & MANAGING DIRECTOR
Paul Valentine
Paul spent 30 years as a senior police officer. Not behind a desk - on the ground, in a number of highly deprived communities with complex societal issues. He founded many successful community partnerships in his career tackling retail crime, street sex work, gangs, county lines and youth violence.
That work taught him something most engagement consultants never learn: people don't tell you what they really need in public meetings. They don't fill in surveys about the things that actually matter to them. You find out by being present. By riding the buses. By showing up where communities actually gather - in faith places and community cafés and on doorsteps at 7pm - and listening without an agenda.
When Paul founded Sonar, he took those 30 years of community intelligence work and turned them into a methodology any organisation could use. That's CWaNA™. And that's the difference you get when you work with us.
The Wider Team
The people behind the signal
Claire
Healthcare Social Value Lead
Claire brings deep expertise in NHS and healthcare social value, with direct access to healthcare networks across the country. NHS suppliers are under increasing pressure to demonstrate genuine social value without the clarity, and consistent support they need to do it well. Many suppliers don't know where to start Claire does.
Christian
Social Value Director
With over 25 years of commercial experience, Christian is passionate about helping organisations make social value practical, credible and aligned to both community need and business goals. Having worked with both global brands and local SMEs, he brings strategic insight and hands-on delivery to support stronger bids, clearer planning and more meaningful impact.
Neil Hallam
Snr Public Liaison Officer and Principle CWaNA writer
Beyond the directors, Sonar deploys a network of experienced Public Liaison Officers drawn from policing, stakeholder engagement and community management, The Sonar team covers the UK with existing relationships across multiple counties.
Dave Spencer
Social Value and Organisational Change Specialist
Andy Lee
Public Liaison Officer
Alex Robinson
Social Value Consultant and Training Lead
Alex Robinson is a Social Value specialist with a strong commercial background, helping organisations align their commercial and social strategies to deliver lasting, measurable impact. With hands-on experience in commercial practice, Alex focuses on embedding social value into the way organisations work - ensuring that doing good and performing well go hand in hand. Alex now brings that experience to developing CPD training programmes at Sonar, giving professionals the tools and knowledge to drive meaningful social outcomes.
Owain Rhys
Public Liaison Officer
Bernie Ibekwem
Stakeholder Engagement Manager
Rob Stenhouse
Public Liaison Officer
Real Outcomes
What working with Sonar delivers
The Social Value Model sets out eight outcomes that public sector suppliers are expected to evidence. Sonar is built to help you achieve all of them - not on paper, but on the ground.
- Fair work across your supply chain
- Skills and growth opportunities for local people
- Resilient, innovative, flexible supply chains
- Sustainable procurement practices
- Supporting the reduction in crime
- Employment and training for people facing barriers
- Creating pathways into work for under-represented groups
- Improving physical and mental wellbeing in communities and supply chains
These aren't boxes to tick. They're the measure of whether the work meant something.
Why Sonar?
Signal. Echo. Depth. Clarity. Map.
Sonar technology works by sending a signal into the unknown - into depth, into darkness - and listening for what comes back. It doesn't assume what's there. It finds out.
That's the only way to do genuine community engagement. You can't sit in an office and decide what a community in Salford needs. You have to go there. Send the signal. Listen to the echo. And build your understanding from what you actually hear.
We called ourselves Sonar because it describes exactly what we do. And because the best things about our work - depth, clarity, honesty - are exactly what the technology stands for.
Thirty years of going beneath the surface. Before it had a name.
KnORT
Before we recommend anything, we take time to understand your KnORT - your Knowledge, Opportunities, Resource and Time.
What your team already knows. Where the gaps are. What you can realistically deploy. Most consultancies tell you what good looks like in the abstract. We start with what's actually possible for you - and build from there.
Common Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about Sonar Engagement, CWaNA™ and our services.
Ready to go deeper?
The people who've worked with us come back. Find out why.