Today sees the unveiling of this year’s shortlist for the Utility Week Stars Awards and yet again the finalists are a shining example of the breadth of talent and commitment across the utilities sector.
The awards recognise the heroes of the utility sector who have gone above and beyond to keep the lights on and the water and gas flowing across the nation and in all weathers.
As the industry faces increasing challenges, it is the people on the front line in terms of delivering service and innovative solutions who continue to make the difference.
Nominated by executives and managers, the teams and individuals have been highlighted for their outstanding contributions – whether it be in the delivery of critical services or outstanding schemes for collaboration in the interests of improving sector image and efficiency.
The awards were open to companies of all sizes from all parts of the utilities industry, with the initiative, project or campaign in most cases completed during 2016/17.
Judges had an enjoyable but very tough time narrowing down the many entries in each category, and choosing the ultimate winners – all of whom will be revealed at a special awards ceremony at the Hilton Manchester Deansgate Hotel on 29 June.
One judge described the day in three, simple words: “Thoughtful, lively, and uplifting.”
“Just brilliant”, was how other judges reacted to this year’s Stars Awards entries, agreeing they reflected the huge range of highly committed and extremely talented people working individually and as teams across our utilities.
“Nominations revealed the loyalty, professionalism and innovation that can sometimes go unnoticed but is what lies at the heart of a sector that makes a daily difference to peoples’ lives,” they said.
“Numerous standout entries made it very hard to choose the ultimate winners, as so many great stories and achievements shone through.”
Find out below who made it on to the shortlist.
Utility Week Stars Awards shortlist 2018
- Big Bang Award for Innovation: Customer-facing
River Itchen Challenge, Southern Water
Customer Care Team, Green Network Energy Ltd
Electric Avenue Team, UK Power Networks
SSEN Stakeholder Engagement Team, SSEN
Local Heroes, British Gas (Centrica)
Octopus Energy’s Agile Hit Squad, Octopus Energy
- Big Bang Award for Innovation: Infrastructure
The H21 NIC Project, Northern Gas Networks
Complete Utilities Innovation Team, Complete Utilities
Mayflower Street Pile Cutting and CIPP Patch Repair, South West Water Delivery Alliance H5O
Scottish Water & Caledonia Water Alliance (Morrison Utility Services & AECOM), Morrison Utility Services
Scottish Water, Caledonia Water Alliance (Morrison Utility Services & AECOM) & Pure Technologies, Morrison Utility Services
UK’s first full-scale Nereda® plant (now fully operational for Thames Water), Royal HaskoningDHV
- Constellation Award for Collaboration with Customers
Affinity Water & Morrison Utility Services, Morrison Utility Services
River Itchen Challenge, Southern Water
Portsmouth Water Infrastructure Team, Portsmouth Water & Cappagh
Lymm Safety Centre, SP Energy Networks
SmartGrid Team, UK Power Networks
Welsh Rugby Union, Rygbi Gogledd Cymru and SP Energy Networks
- Constellation Award for Utilities Collaboration
Alliance, UK Power Networks
NWG Framework Partnerships, Northumbrian Water Group
Developer Services Digital Transformation, Anglian Water
Portsmouth Water Infrastructure Team, Portsmouth Water
Utiligroup uSmart programme team, Utiligroup
- Culture Change Champion Award
Gareth Evans and the PWS Retail Service Centre Team, Pennon Water Services
Keeping it Simple Cultural Transformation Programme, Npower
Mark Mills, Investment Manager, Portsmouth Water
Safety Health and Environment Team, UK Power Networks
UK Power Networks’ Electric Avenue, UK Power Networks
Wales & West Utilities’ Innovation Team, Wales & West Utilities
- Data Demon Award
Water Production Planning Team, United Utilities
Intelligence & Analytics/Climate Change – Northumbrian Water Group
Morrison Utility Services & Sopra Steria
Neil Woodcock, Design and Planning Manager, SP Energy Networks
Northumbrian Water (NW) Pollution Performance Improvement Team
The Stantec Treatment Digital Delivery Team
- Guiding Star Award
Dave Shepherd, Head of Delivery of the Wirral District, SP Energy Networks
Matt Hockaday, Head of Business Readiness, British Gas
- Health and Safety Champion: Individual
Gurtej Multani, Corporate H&S Manager, UK Power Reserve
Lee Perkins, Engineering Trainees Team Leader in the South East region, UK Power Networks
Lucy Innes, Safety, Health, Environment and Quality Lead, UK Power Networks Services
Ryan Brown, QSE Manager, Stonbury Ltd
- Health and Safety Champion: Initiative
“RPS Be the BEST” (Behavioural Excellence Starts Today), RPS
Lymm Safety Centre, SP Energy Networks
Morrison Utility Services & M Group Services Plant & Fleet Solutions, Morrison Utility Services
New cable strike avoidance hand tools, Affinity Water
Safety Culture Programme, SGN Ltd
Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) safety licence, SSEN
StaySafe Lone Worker Safety, Celtic Anglian Water and StaySafe
- Hero Award: Individual
Lisa Nealan, Water Supply Process Support Team Admin Assistant, Northumbrian Water Group
Lucy Innes, Safety, Health, Environment and Quality Lead, UK Power Networks Services
Meg Darling, Head of Customer Service, Spark Energy
Neal Carbonero, Community Customer Support Advisor, Affinity Water
Rob Abram, Performance Change Agent within Customer Services, United Utilities
Sabrina Corbo, Executive Vice President, Green Network
- Hero Award: Team
Industry Operations Team, Bristol Energy
Janet Newbrook, Jay Churchman, Greg Atkinson, Dave McHugh, SP Energy Networks
South Caledonia regional teams, SSEN
Stormtroupers, UK Power Networks
The People Team, Spark Energy
- Rising Star
Dr Laura Daniels, Project Lead in Innovation Team, UK Power Networks
Jonathan May, Graduate Mechanical Engineer, Stantec
Matthew Skeoch, Operations Team Manager, SGN Ltd
Nicky Smith, Business Leadership Graduate, Centrica
Ryan Salmon, Connections Delivery Coordinator, SP Energy Networks
Sophie Russell, Senior Design Engineer, SP Energy Network
- Shooting Star
Barry Campbell, Head of Business Change and Project Management Office, Opus Energy
Jaffar Sahle, Project Manager, UK Power Reserve
Jessica Smith, Billing Performance Manager, Opus Energy
Kerry Duke, Delivery Manager, Morrison Utility Services
Tom Beeby, Delivery Lead, Centrica
- Supernova Award for Long Service
Adrian Skinner, Electricity Linesman, UK Power Networks
Andrew Humby, Head of Market Participant Interaction, Utiligroup
Dave Stokes, Overhead Linesman’s Mate, SP Energy Networks
Jason Young, Morrison Utility Services
Mike Sutherland, Project Manager, Network Construction Team, Highlands and Islands region at Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN)
Nat Masters, Gas Process Specialist, Opus Energy
Stormtroupers, UK Power Networks
The 2018 Utility Week Stars Awards will be held in Manchester on 29 June. To enquire about a table, please visit: utilityweekstars.co.uk