The Lord Mayor’s Dragon Awards

ECD are delighted to announce that we are a finalist for the Prestigious Lord Mayor’s Dragon Awards. The Dragon Awards recognises businesses that go above and beyond their core work to significantly impact the regeneration of their local communities. We are one of twenty finalists with the likes of BT, Barclays and KPMG.

We have been shortlisted as one of two finalists for the Heart of the City category, an Award which celebrates businesses that have only recently begun to have a social impact within the last three years. The Award recognises businesses that demonstrate a strategic commitment to tackling a social issue and looks for organisations that have put the foundations in place to deliver sustainable impact into the future.

We re-confirmed our values in early 2017, and involved all staff in the development of a Responsible business Strategy which was aligned to these values. The three strands of our responsible business strategy are;

• Valuing People
• Commitment to the Environment
• Investing in Communities

Over these 2 years we have been delighted to see such commitment from all employees in getting involved in our responsible business activities. Some of our highlights include the implementation of our staff volunteering programme which had a 72% staff engagement rate and contributed 368 hours of volunteering time with community and charity organisations in 2018; raising over £10,000 for CRASH over past 2 years; providing work experience placements and employed graduates; as well as the formalisation of the training and development of our employees. We are committed to serving our communities and making a continual impact in the future.

Our Group Director, Colette McHuch commented:

‘We are absolutely delighted to be a shortlisted for the prestigious Lord Mayor’s Dragon Awards 2019. It’s a great opportunity to celebrate and recognise how far we have come as an organisation in our responsible business initiatives over the last two years. Whilst there is much more to be done, we’re really proud of the progress we’ve made so far in supporting a wide range of initiatives that make a real difference to the communities we serve. To be recognised as a finalist as part of these awards is absolutely fantastic and spurs us on to achieve even greater things next year!’

The Award Ceremony will take place in September.