An SGN apprentice trained by Develop Training Limited (DTL) has scooped the first ever Apprentice of the Year title at the prestigious Gas Industry Awards.
John Brady, who trained from 2015 to 2017 on DTL’s First Call Operative apprenticeship programme, was praised by the judges for making “a significant contribution to his workplace and setting a fine example to future engineering apprentices.”
The new category, one of three special awards, was introduced this year in recognition of the government’s Year of the Engineer campaign designed to inspire the next generation to pursue a career in engineering.
SGN were among a number of DTL clients who collected awards at the prestigious Hilton Hotel in Park Lane, London. DTL representatives and stakeholders joined leading figures from the UK gas industry at the event, organised by The Institution of Gas Engineers and Managers (IGEM) and The Energy and Utilities Alliance (EUA).
Award-winning and shortlisted DTL clients included Morrison Utility Services, Balfour Beatty and SGN.
Chris Wood, Chief Executive of DTL, said: “As a training organisation specialising in the utilities sector, we were delighted to support this event. It is fantastic to see our clients being recognised for their contribution to the sector, and particularly to see a new apprenticeship award going to a young man who has excelled on one of our programmes.”
This year’s Gas Industry Awards champions were presented with their certificates and trophies at an awards lunch hosted by Journalist and Broadcaster Jennie Bond.
The winning individuals and organisations were
- Manager of the Year: Wez Little, Synthotech
- Engineer of the Year: John White, Synthotech
- Young Person’s Achievement Award: Andy Lewis, Cadent
- Safety Award: Balfour Beatty
- Energy Efficiency Award: Wales & West Utilities
- Innovation Project Award: Taunton Deane Borough Council in partnership with Gas Tag for Technology
- Customer Service Award: Hannah Moseley, British Gas
- Innovation Product Award: ULC Robotics and tRIIO in partnership with Cadent
- Leadership Award: Joanne Giles, Cadent
- Company of the Year: Wales & West Utilities
The Special Recognition Award went to Adrian McConnell, of the Gas Safety Trust, and the Outstanding Achievement Award was presented to former IGEM President Chris Clarke, of Wales & West Utilities.
The full list of shortlisted candidates was:
Manager of the Year
Oliver Lancaster, Wales & West Utilities
Wez Little, Synthotech Limited
Adrian McConnell, Gas Safety Trust
Engineer of the Year
Matthew Blackburn, HomeServe Membership Limited
Tom Greenwood, QEM Solutions
Danny O’Malley, SGN Natural Gas
John White, Synthotech Limited
Safety Award
Balfour Beatty for GDSP loss time injury record
HomeServe Membership Limited for their Road Risk initiative
Morrison Utility Services and M Group Services Plant & Fleet Solutions for their People and Plant Interface
PSS Hire for The Click Stick
Innovation Product Award
Gas Tag for Safety Through Technology
Rosen in partnership with Northern Gas Networks for their PE syphon with remote monitoring
ULC Robotics, tRIIO and Cadent for their M1 live mains inspection crawler system
Innovation Project Award
Cadent, Advanced Plasma Power, Progressive Energy, Wales & West Utilities and CNG Fuels for their BioSNG project
Synthotech and ALH Systems in partnership with Northern Gas Networks for Project STASS
Taunton Deane Borough Council and Gas Tag for Technology for Compliance
Wales & West Utilities for their pioneering data capture
Company of the Year Award
SGN Limited
ULC Robotics
Wales & West Utilities
Customer Service Award
Hannah Moseley, British Gas
SGN Limited for their 3-year CX transformation
tRIIO for achieving business gain through customer performance improvement
Leadership Award
Jo Giles, Cadent
Maxine Long, National Grid Metering
Bethan Winter, Wales & West Utilities
Young Persons’ Achievement
Samuel Jones, Wales & West Utilities
Andy Lewis, Cadent
Hazel Richardson, DNV GL
Stephen Ward, Balfour Beatty
Energy Efficiency Award
Morrison Utility Services for their Environmental Awareness Training
Wales and West Utilities for their Heat Pumps Without Tears
DTL provides specialist training courses and apprenticeship programmes for major organisations in the gas sector and other utility and construction industries.