Hospitality provider behind Wimbledon among winners celebrated at new national innovation awards
Ten leading UK companies and individuals have been celebrated for their innovative new ways of working at a prestigious new award ceremony.
The inaugural Improvement Awards, which were hosted in the new Manchester offices of global technology company SafetyCulture, champion businesses that are driving improvement through digital transformation.
Nearly 50 guests attended the exclusive ceremony, which included businesses in the engineering, manufacturing, construction, and hospitality sectors. Former British Olympic sprinter Derek Redmond also gave a speech on achieving excellence.
The big winner of the night was Levy UK + Ireland, the leading hospitality company within Compass Group, which provides food and drink to Wimbledon and other legendary venues and events across Europe.
Levy scooped the Digital Transformation Award for best overall improved ways of working, as well as the Improvement Impact award for its ‘paperless’ initiative across more than 40 venues which saved more than 600,000 pieces of paper and £3.3 million in 2023. The company’s move to app-based processes is part of its ambitions to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2027.
Other winners celebrated at the ceremony included:
- NiftyLift, the Milton Keynes-headquartered manufacturer of mobile elevating work platforms, which won the Innovation Award for its creative use of digital technology;
- Altrad, the global construction engineering company, in the Best Newcomer category for its new, fully paperless client site at a leading power station;
- ERH Communications, the Newport-based civil engineering and communications company, was named Best SME with fewer than 1,000 employees;
- William Hare Group, the £170m-turnover structural steel engineering group headquartered in Bury, won the Best Enterprise category for businesses with more than 1,000 employees;
- The London-based United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), based in City of London, picked up the Future Skills Award which celebrates leaders in upskilling and training;
- Aviva, the multinational insurance company which employs 23,000 people, won the Partner of the Year award for a SafetyCulture partner with a long-term commitment to continuous improvement.
The SafetyCulture Improvement Awards 2024 also named three individuals who have been instrumental in driving forward innovation in their company. Mark Murphy, chief risk officer at Scottish timber merchant Donaldson Group, and Anna Giusti, quality infrastructure analyst at Norway-headquartered seafood company MOWI, were both celebrated for their passion for innovation, digital transformation, and health and safety.
Finally, Andrew Coles from Gillingham-based building and facilities management company Medway Norse, was named Voice of the Frontline, a category which rewards people who have led positive change for frontline workers in their organisation.
Congratulating the award winners, Alex Brooks-Sykes, SafetyCulture’s lead for UK & Ireland, said: “It has been so inspiring hearing how these businesses are embracing new, better ways of working. What these award winners show is that digitising processes can be win-win—good for employees, profit, safety, and the environment.
“When it comes to improving any business there can be challenges along the way, from getting senior buy-in and securing budget to managing culture change. The key is remembering the bigger vision, and that even small, incremental changes can scale up to make a big impact. Well done to all the winners from everyone at SafetyCulture.”
SafetyCulture’s mobile-first workplace operations platform is used by more than 18,000 UK businesses, including the National Grid, Network Rail, and Transport for London. The SafetyCulture platform enables over a billion checks each year, delivers approximately 75,000 lessons per day, and informs millions of corrective actions.
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About SafetyCulture
SafetyCulture is a global technology company that helps frontline teams find a better way of working. Its mobile-first workplace operations platform gives teams the knowledge, tools and confidence they need to meet higher standards, work safely and improve every day.
The SafetyCulture platform powers over a billion checks each year, it delivers approximately 75,000 lessons per day and informs millions of corrective actions. SafetyCulture gives leaders visibility and workers a voice in driving safety, quality, and efficiency improvements.
A recent analysis by Forrester found that SafetyCulture’s flagship products provide a 214% return on investment for customers and $3.6M in cost savings from operational improvements. In the UK, customers of SafetyCulture’s award-winning products include the NHS, National Grid, TfL, Network Rail, DHL, BP Pulse, CBRE, American Golf, and Brentford FC.
