Big tick, big tick

20/06/2005

A regional company has ticked the right boxes and won two prestigious awards.

Northumbrian Water, which serves customers from Berwick down to North Yorkshire and across to the Pennines, entered two projects into Business in the Community’s Awards for Excellence 2005 and both received a Big Tick Award.

Wear Valley Water Treatment Works at Wearhead, Weardale, County Durham, was entered into the Shields Environmental Award and the company’s community initiative, ‘Just an Hour’, was entered into the BUPA Healthy Community Award.

The water company won both awards by demonstrating a high standard of excellence in the way they incorporate responsible business practice in mainstream operations to impact positively in the local communities they serve.

Wear Valley Water Treatment Works is a state-of-the-art water treatment facility, an asset of national and regional strategic importance, constructed in an area of outstanding natural beauty.  It is widely regarded, and nationally recognised, as representing environmental excellence in design, demonstrating construction best practice and setting benchmark performance for innovation and project management.  The buildings on site, for instance, were built using natural stone and slate to look like farmstead buildings to blend into the surroundings.

‘Just an Hour’, Northumbrian Water’s highly successful employee volunteering programme, was launched in 2002. All employees are offered at least 12 working hours every year to support community initiatives.  Twenty-eight per cent of employees have signed up so far for environment, education and community projects dedicating more than 7,500 hours.

John Cuthbert, Northumbrian Water’s Managing Director, said:  “We take corporate social responsibility very seriously – it is fundamental to the business and at the heart of all we do.   We are delighted that these two projects have been recognised and look forward to accepting the endorsement on 21 June.”
 
For further information please contact Dorothy Tait, Community Relations Manager, Northumbrian Water on 0191 301 6787.