People into Action

Nominated by: Leigh-Ann Dix, Operations Manager, Land Securities

Reason for nomination:

I would like to nominate Darren for his consistent level of Customer Service he provides. His most recent effects included helping a lady with Down Syndrome home to her husband who she had lost whilst shopping at Gunwharf Quays. This lady had been lost for 5 hours prior to speaking to Darren. She was extremely concerned and worried for her husband as he suffered from a disability and she thought maybe he was lost and she was concerned for his welfare.

She didn't have a contact telephone number. However, once Darren managed to calm her down he managed to get her address from her. It happened to be close to where Darren's mum lived so he called his mum and asked her to knock on the door of this lady's house in the hope the husband had returned home. Thankfully he had and Darren was able to arrange for the husband and wife to be reunited.

Another example is I have also recently received a letter on the 23rd March, where Darren had spotted a couple looking a little lost out on our Centre. Darren approached the couple and asked if he could help. They informed him they were looking for a particular shop and they were sure it was where they were 'Cotton Trader' they were correct Darren informed them it had actually changed units and showed them where the shop was. Darren also took the opportunity to inform them of Cotton Traders offers for that particular week.

As you can see from this extract of their letter, in their words they said "Darren was well presented and extremely friendly and polite, a true credit and everything we have come to expect of your shopping centre. We visit West Quay in Southampton and a few other large shopping centres but none of them comes close to the service your staff provides. We certainly will not be leaving it as long before we return".

It is not only customers that have recognised Darren's manner but also fellow colleagues and external companies. I recently received an e-mail from Sandy Parkins from Race for Life who used our centre for the launch of the relay race they are organising, thanking Darren for his help and support. I think the above examples show Darren clearly promotes Customer Service and it has been recognised by external people that customer service is at the heart of our company.

In terms of our core values I also think Darren demonstrates Excellence he strives to be the best at what he does, as the customer commented by delivering and exceeding standards by giving the service he does he has ensured we deliver better then our competitors 

Nominated by: Steven Madeley, Centre Director, St David's Dewi Sant, Land Securities

Reason for nomination:

Keith was called to the top floor of our car park to find a very distressed young lady climbing the fence with a view to committing suicide. Keith talked to the lady for a while and gained her trust and then called her father and enabled the lady to talk to her father.

After a while, he persuaded her to come down and then escorted her to a waiting ambulance whilst constantly reassuring her and calming her down. He stayed with her until the ambulance departed, having kept her father informed as to the situation. Keith carried out his training well, but was also able to create rapport with a distressed individual whilst he also used his initiative to involve the lady's father by telephone.

This showed exemplary customer service but I am nominating him for the empathy and respect he showed for this person throughout.

Nominated by: Andrew Littlejohns, Centre Director, Princesshay Shopping Centre, Land Securities

Reason for nomination:

I am nominating Mark for exceptional response and the way he dealt with an extremely dangerous situation. His actions clearly show a clear head and a determination to resolve a difficult situation in which he could have been harmed himself.

Whilst out on patrol at 02:30 hours he noticed a large group of men (10+) fighting outside of the Tesco Metro Store which is on the periphery of Princesshay. He observed two young men on the floor being kicked and punched quite viciously. He immediately contacted the control room and requested assistance.

Mark then without any concern for his own safety ran down to see if he could be of any assistance and found two men violently attacking a young lad on the floor. Mark requested them to stop this attack in order to break them up, however this was unsuccessful so Mark intervened physically and resrtained both men on the floor and waited for assistance from the security team and the Police.

The Police had to use a dog handling unit to break up the remainder of the affray during which one man was knocked unconscious and suffered a broken jaw. This was a seriously violent affray and was a brief but serious incident. Mark's actions culminated in preventing serious injuries to an innocent young man who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

His statement taken by the Police later helped to a successful prosecution being mounted which resulted in 4 of the men involved in the affray being jailed. 

Nominated by: Gordon Glean, Security/Car park Manager, Lewisham Shopping Centre, Land Securities

Reason for nomination:

Lewisham Borough Business Against Crime (LBBAC) was launch in 2009 as a business crime initiative for businesses across the borough of Lewisham. The business crime reduction partnership (BCRP) managed by Martyn Grover, over time has become a valuable asset to all - businesses in terms of reducing business crime, reducing the demand on police time and resources, improving retail staff understanding of the wider implications of stock loss and providing training for security and shop staff in the areas in which the scheme operates.

Since 2009 Martyn has transformed the way that retailers work with institutions such as the police, the local authority and other public sector organisations which determine the security and safety of our business environment. Martyn has been instrumental in the development of the Information Sharing Agreement (ISA) that was developed in partnership with Lewisham Police.

This ground breaking bit of work is now hailed as best practice for the MET and other forces across the country. In addition, LBBAC's Constitution, membership requirements, protocols and Codes of Practice were modernised by Martyn after a great deal of research nationally to identify best practice from other schemes.

As the result, LBBAC is now recognised as being one of the most progressive and effective BCRP in the country, winning a national award in recognition for the work LBBAC has done in reducing crime and anti social behavior in 2010. In the last 12 months period, Lewisham Central has seen an impressive 62% reduction in reported business crime, anti social behaviour over the last 12 months has fallen by 69% in the same area over the same period and individual retailers are reporting up to a 97% reduction in their shrinkage levels.

In my view, Martyn has demonstrated all the values that we would expect from a service partner and has exceeded the expectations of the business community and indeed our retailers in terms of the reduction in crime and disorder that has been achieved in central Lewisham

Nominated by: David Bradley, Engineering Manager, White Rose Shopping Centre, Land Securities

Reason for nomination:

I am nominating Tony Spears for the innovation award for his idea and implementation of a new four warning light system for the White Rose centre's sprinkler and hydrant tank room.

Tony's actions clearly demonstrate Innovation, which he has introduced a new device to enhance our pumps operating more effectively and I believe he should be recognised for displaying thought leadership qualities.  Situated in the sprinkler and hydrant tank room, there are four pumps running the individual sprinkler and hydrant systems. These are, sprinkler pump 1, standby sprinkler pump 2, hydrant pump 1 and standby hydrant pump 2.

Currently, if the pumps activate due to testing purposes of a retail unit or external contractor using hydrant water for cleaning routines they continue operating until someone notices to switch them off. This can be a major problem, for example cleaning operations are undertaken out of normal trading hours when security presence on site is vastly reduced. Not only are the pumps left running, consuming electricity wasting energy, but the fire pumps have no overcurrent protection as they are designed to operate continuously to destruction as typical in fire conditions.

As a result, this could potentially lead to the risk of pump failure when the system is most critically needed in fire. The necessity of reducing energy, improving the pump operational life and maintaining this fire and life safety protection system instigated the switch off of the system when not in use. Security are the only staff on site with the visibility to detect operating plant.

Tony using his electrical skills initiated the warning light system so security could monitor 24 hours a day whether the four pumps were operating. An electrical output signal from the pumps was wired into a fused spur which is mounted onto the side of the control panel. The wiring from each of the fused spurs follows the path of the existing electrical trunking. Holes were formed in the outer wall of the tankroom and wiring connected to mounted beacons at height. When the pumps are running the beacons are illuminated and flashing clearly. The red beacons denote sprinkler's and orange are hydrant pumps, these are easily distinguished by the security staff monitoring the centre's CCTV network.

Tony's actions have made a valuable contribution to improving the reliability of a fire and life safety system on site and reducing energy usage. He is a proactive member of the on site maintenance team, always looking for opportunities to improve all aspects of health and safety within the centre. 

Nominated by: Dean Stratton, Retail Liaison Manager, White Rose Shopping Centre, Land Securities

Reason for nomination:

On behalf of the White Rose Shopping Centre management team, I would like to nominate Rosie Anderson for the Corporate Responsibility People Into Action award for the hugely successful Big Little Car Raffle, in support of our nominated charity, Martin House Children's Hospice, which took place here at the White Rose during May and June 2011.

Martin House Children's Hospice have been our nominated charity since May 2010 and we have a target of £100,000 over a two year period. Rosie has played a leading and active role in this process since volunteering to join the White Rose Charity Committee and managing the relationship between Martin House and the White Rose.

This nomination is specifically for Rosie's incredible contribution to the Big Little Car Raffle, which raised over £40,000 towards our £100,000 target in just a two month period. In brief, the Big Little Car Raffle took the simple idea of offering a brand new car for a £1 raffle ticket. The initial idea came from a brainstorming meeting between Rosie and our colleagues at Martin House last year. Rosie identified this idea as one which could raise a significant contribution to our charity fund, and would also fit perfectly with Land Securities' Corporate Responsibility commitments.

Working with Martin House, Rosie arranged for a brand new Peugeot 107 Urban Lite to be donated to the White Rose. Rosie also arranged for branded £1 raffle tickets to be produced. Rosie then worked with Haribo and arranged for them to provide thousands of free sweets to be handed out with tickets.

Rosie also co-ordinated a wide exposure advertising campaign which promoted the Big Little Car Raffle, including White Rose and Martin House website coverage, various local newspapers, appearance in 30,000 Martin House newsletters, other promotional literature around the White Rose and contact with all White Rose retailers.

Rosie also arranged for the Peugeot itself to be branded with White Rose and Martin House posters and vinyls and it was parked in the White Rose Central Atrium for nine weeks on public display, manned by various volunteers every day. In addition to this, Rosie arranged for Peugeot to park an identical vehicle, with the same White Rose and Martin House branding, in their Wakefield showroom.

The Big Little Car Raffle was officially launched on Monday 2nd May 2011, and was supported by players from Super League's Bradford Bulls and local junior team Hunslet Warriors, reinforcing the Big Little feature of this campaign, which secured lots of local media coverage. The Big Little Car Raffle was a huge success from day one. Over 4,000 tickets were sold by the end of the first week, and 20,000 tickets had been sold at the end of the first month. Momentum continued to grow and our customers provided great support, with our most loyal customers often buying a new ticket each time they visited the White Rose. The winning ticket was drawn on Friday 1st July and we were absolutely delighted with our grand total of £40,784.

This is an incredible achievement. There is no doubt that the White Rose Big Little Car Raffle was a huge success. There is also no doubt that Rosie's personal contribution was absolutely key to this success.

The way she enthusiastically developed, planned, managed and delivered the Big Little Car Raffle was a truly superb effort. Rosie's raffle also provided a clear example of White Rose and Land Securities commitment to Corporate Responsibility and she definitely made a difference in this respect.

In our view, she is most worthy of a Corporate Responsibility People Into Action award. Martin House is a local children's hospice providing respite and care for children with life limiting illnesses, and their families, needing £4.5 million per year to function effectively.

Nominated by: Alison Light, Centre Operations Manager, Bon Accord Shopping Centre, Land Securities

Reason for nomination:

The OCS team at the Bon Accord and St Nicholas Shopping Centres won the BSIA award for 'Best Team' for their commendable work at the Aberdeen site.

The eighteen strong team has handled a number of challenges throughout their time at the centre and have dealt with situations above and beyond their call of duty including a clear up following a flood, assisting a member of public choking on her food and responding to a possible terror threat The teams proactive attitude has won them admiration and respect from both the centre and members of the public, alongside local authorities, tenants and the Scottish Business Crime Centre.

Shopping Centre press release from OCS -

The Bon Accord and St Nicholas shopping Centre's in Aberdeen has won a trio of accolades for its excellence in security provision in just a matter of months. The 18 strong team at the Centre's works for facilities management company OCS and has developed a strong relationship with the centre management company, Land Securities. The contract has been held for 6 years and OCS supports the centre with both manned guarding and CCTV.

Awards have been rolling in from the BSIA (British Security Industry Association) including a regional award for Best Team in Scotland and the Best Team in the UK title. OCS itself has rewarded the team with a "Dynamic Team" award as part of the company's internal annual awards scheme.

The team members have demonstrated their professionalism and extreme dedication to the centre, working with the Grampian Police to reduce crime in the centre, implementing a Zero Tolerance Policy and introducing an Adopt a Shop scheme. In addition they integrated the new staff in the customer care ethos, which contributes to a safe and secure shopping environment for its customers, retailers and contractors.

The Bon Accord team have received numerous verbal and written compliments from members of the public who they have assisted and Land Securities also nominated them for the National Safer Shopper Award, which is sponsored by the British Retail Consortium and endorsed by the Home Office and Association of Chief Police Officers.

Stephanie Maher/Communications Executive OCS

Nominated by: Morag Brackenridge-Cumming, Administration Manager, Overgate, Land Securities

Reason for nomination:

Overgate is situated in the centre of Dundee near to the river Tay. On the afternoon of the 23rd June Dundee experienced torrential rain, this combined with a high tide caused flooding in the back of house areas and in 11 of our retail units.

The flood water was raw sewage. Bernadette and the team members mentioned above waded into at least 5 inches of the sewage and did all that they could to assist the retailers to clean up this smelly, sticky and most unhygienic of substances.

With wet and dry vacuums, mop buckets, squeezes and elbow grease the team work on well past there finishing times to assist our retailers to either remain open or at least be ready to trade the following day.

There was no hesitation by any of the team to get stuck in and get the problem sorted as best they could for as long as it would take.