Second award for Northumbrian water
May 30 2008 by Karen Dent, The Journal
NORTHUMBRIAN Water is celebrating after landing its second major award in the space of a week.
It has scooped the Impact on Society Award in the Business In The Community (BITC) Big Ticks Awards 2008. The accolade comes hot on the heels of its platinum top-tier ranking in the Companies that Count Index, which was unveiled on Sunday.
The Durham-based FTSE-250 company has its own corporate responsibility manager who was brought in to boost the group’s contribution to its staff and customers.
Louise Hunter, an accountant who used to work with BITC, has been in the post for two and a half years. She said: “As a result of our high performance in the index, we were invited to apply for another award. This is like a kitemark kind of award and we will be invited to re-credit for it next year.
“It has been a lot of hard work to build up to this. A lot of years of activity behind the scenes are now coming to fruition.”
Elsewhere in the region, Sunderland-based housing group Gentoo, which won this year’s Corporate Social Responsibility Awards at The Journal’s North East Business Awards, has added a Big Tick to its trophy cabinet.
It picked up the Merrill Lynch Education Challenge accolade in recognition of its community programmes that aim to raise the achievement of young people through building sustainable partnerships with schools. Val Milnes, Gentoo’s head of social investment, said: “We are proud to receive recognition through this prestigious award, which demonstrates our commitment to helping to inspire young people to achieve their potential and raise levels of attainment in the city’s schools.”
Meanwhile, pharmaceutical giant Procter & Gamble, which has its UK headquarters at Cobalt Park in North Tyneside and employs 1,800 people in the North East, was recognised with an HBOS Responsible Marketing Award, and Eshott Hall Estate took the Northern Foods Rural Action Award.
John Lewis in Newcastle and Tees Valley Housing were both re-accredited.
