East Midlands firms in business excellence spotlight

Added by Love Business East Midlands | 16 June 2014

UPDATED: 16 June 2014

More than 230 guests celebrated the success of companies making a difference to East Midlands’ communities at the annual Responsible Business Awards.

The awards, which were held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Nottingham last night (June 12), are run by the charity, Business in the Community (BITC).

Among the winners was Andrew Bacon, regional director East Midlands, British Gas, who received the prestigious Prince’s Ambassadors’ Award. Andrew is a member of BITC’s East Midlands Advisory Board and Chair of the Leicester & Leicestershire Local Enterprise Partnership.

Speaking via a video message at the dinner, HRH The Prince of Wales, who is President of BITC, said: “My ambassadors are those individuals who are recognised for driving the responsible business movement through the actions they take in their own workplace. I could not be more grateful to them for the work they do or have agreed to take on focused on the key priorities of tackling youth unemployment and building stable and sustainable local communities.”

Derby-based Wates Living Space scooped two awards: East Midlands Sustainable Business Resilience Award and the Employee Volunteer award won by Annette Willoughby. Annette’s voluntary work at the Nottingham Language Café is helping local residents without English as their first language to develop the skills required to find employment or training.

The Community Champion Award was won by Tony Richmond and Nigel Adams of HOPE Nottingham, a drop in centre and soup kitchen who provide practical needs for the homeless. HOPE Nottingham encourages businesses to engage with their service to help them further support individuals referred to them by preventing family breakdown, housing loss, crime and mental health problems. 

Nationwide Building Society picked up the accolade of Employee Volunteering Business Award.  In 2013 Nationwide staff donated 12,998 volunteering hours, helped 91 organisations and supported 11,402 young people.

Mike Baddeley from Ricoh UK was recognised with the annual Marks & Spencer Sieff Award, set up to recognise the importance of the next generation of business leaders. The Sieff Award is awarded to individuals who are putting sustainability and responsible business values at the heart of their business to help transform the way we do business in the future.

Five East Midlands businesses received Big Tick Awards for their work within local communities and a further four businesses were re-accredited with Big Ticks.

Liz Needleman, Area Director England East, Business in the Community said: “The annual Responsible Business Awards celebrate not only achievements within the workplace but the difference businesses can have in communities. It’s fantastic to see the efforts put into the schemes recognised tonight, with businesses donating thousands of volunteer hours and time.”

A full list of all award winners and runners-up is below.

^{Celebrating success at BITC Responsible Business Awards East Midlands are: L-R Melanie Forrester (Boots, Big Tick winner), Andrew Bacon (British Gas, Prince’s Ambassador Award winner), Liz Needleman, Area Director BITC and John Malpas (Toyota, Big Tick winner)}

Local Impact Awards

East Midlands Sustainable Business Resilience Award:

Winner - Wates Living Space –

Employee Volunteer Award:

Winner - Annette Willoughby from Wates Living Space

Highly Commended – Gary Grove, Thomson Reuters

East Midlands Employee Volunteering Business Award:

Winner - Nationwide Building Society

Highly Commended - Lincolnshire Co-op

Community Champion Award:

Winner - Tony Richmond and Nigel Adams, HOPE Nottingham

 

The Prince Ambassador Award

Andrew Bacon, British Gas

 

Sieff Award

Mike Baddeley from Ricoh UK

 

Big Ticks

Capital One – Building Stronger Communities Award

E.ON – Education Award, supported by UKCES

Boots – Inspiring Young Talent Award

Gelder Group – Inspiring Young Talent Award 

Toyota Motor Manufacturing (UK) Ltd – Sustainable Products and Services Award

Boots – Sustainable Products and Services

 

Re-accreditation for Big Ticks

Boots – Channel 4 Work Inspiration Award

Lincolnshire Co-operative – Workplace Talent and Skills Award

Lubrizol Limited – Jaguar Land Rover Marketplace Sustainability Leadership Award

Gi Group Recruitment Limited – Workplace Talent and Skills Award

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