Saltire Facilities Management Ltd (Saltire) – the joint venture formed between ALHCO and North Lanarkshire Council in 2001 to deliver domestic heating and gas services to more than 40,000 North Lanarkshire tenants – lived up to its name recently by flying the flag for Scotland at two prestigious national awards ceremonies.

Saltire picked up the coveted UK Installer of the Year accolade from the UK's gas safety watchdog CORGI at the annual CORGI Awards ceremony. The award was made on the basis of Gas Safety Initiatives & Awareness and Customer Service & Care. The CORGI Awards have been dubbed the 'Oscars of the Gas Industry' and are a wonderful opportunity to recognise excellence and reward those people, products and services committed to gas safety and improving the industry.

The company also picked up a Gold Award at The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) Occupational Health & Safety Awards 2007. RoSPA is actively involved in the promotion of safety and the prevention of accidents in all areas of life and a Gold Award recognises very high levels of performance, well developed occupational health and safety management systems and culture, outstanding control of risk and very low levels of error, harm and loss. The RoSPA awards help ensure organisations have a good health and safety management system in place.

The services that Saltire provides include an installation, reactive repairs/maintenance and servicing facility for all multi-fuelled domestic heating systems and cooking appliances and electrical full and partial rewiring of domestic properties combined with the heating installation of panel, storage and wet systems. Other business activities include the in-house provision of a 24/7 call centre facility and a quality control/inspection service on central heating systems, electrical wiring or on current contractors for individuals.

Gas safety is entrenched in all the work the company undertakes and the judges of the CORGI Awards were impressed with Saltire's proactive approach to the promotion of gas safety with their customers and the effort made to reduce injury and death through the provision of carbon monoxide alarms with all installations.

The RoSPA Gold Award was achieved on the assessment of a broad portfolio of evidence about the level of development and performance of Saltire's occupational health and safety management system. The award also takes into account Saltire's enviable reportable accident rate and the fact that the company has never been served by any enforcement notices.

These awards are testament to the success of Saltire – the public private partnership (PPP) established when gas and heating services transferred from the council's former direct labour organisation. Since that time, Saltire has gone from strength to strength, with staff numbers more than trebling from 67 to 240 directly employed staff.

Throughout this time, Saltire has also achieved significant additional contract success with various clients from the public and private sectors including: Angus Council; Cumbernauld Housing Partnership; Eaga Partnership; National Grid Transco; Scottish Power; and Calor Gas.

Saltire is also currently carrying out work as the servicing and maintenance contractor for Hillcrest Housing Association in Dundee and Scottish Borders Housing Association and is the domestic heating quality control contractor for Dumfries & Galloway Housing Partnership.

CORGI Awards organiser, Dan Caesar, said: "CORGI is really proud to be able to give Saltire this award in recognition of their hard work and dedication to gas safety; after all, this is what the CORGI Awards are all about. What stood out to us the most about Saltire was their absolute commitment to providing a consistently high quality service to their customers."

David Rawlins, RoSPA Awards Manager, said "Saltire Facilities Management Limited has demonstrated how seriously they take health and safety management and are a fine example to many other companies. We would like to see more organisations following their lead."

David Black, Saltire's Managing Director said:  "These awards are a fantastic boost for Saltire and I am delighted for every single one of our employees. We strongly believe in a team approach and that permeates everything that we do, so recognition in this way by CORGI and RoSPA really means the world to us.

"We are very proud of what we have achieved and these awards reinforce that at the highest level. Significantly for us, this recognition strengthens our position in the market place as a quality service provider for local authorities and registered social landlords, which will ensure we can continue to fly the flag for the bold approach taken by North Lanarkshire in setting up the company.

"We are a proud and committed company and will continue to provide the best service we possibly can and show just why we deserve our titles of UK Installer of the Year and Gold Award winner."

Councillor Jim McCabe, Leader of North Lanarkshire Council, said: "The partnership arrangements like this put in place throughout North Lanarkshire deliver an excellent service to our residents and these awards are testament to this. Saltire has continually improved service delivery and customer service since the company was established and this is proof positive of the bold and innovative approach taken by North Lanarkshire Council in creating four PPPs to take on the work of the former DLO.

"Saltire has exceeded all our expectations and I'm sure it will continue to grow from strength to strength – my congratulations go to everyone involved in achieving these awards."

Councillor Barry McCulloch, Convener of North Lanarkshire Council's Housing & Social Work Services Committee, added: "We are committed to providing our tenants with a first-class service. I am delighted that the council and Saltire's commitment to gas safety and health and safety has been recognised by the industry at a national level as this is an important element of the service provided and I am proud that North Lanarkshire is associated with the UK Installer of the Year and a RosPA Gold Award winner.

"North Lanarkshire Council is committed to putting service and people first and thanks to our partnership with Saltire, we are doing just that."

For more information on Saltire and the services it provides, contact andrew.stirling@sfml.co.uk or david.black@sfml.co.uk.

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