GTC October 2023 News Round-Up
We are launching a monthly online news article that takes a retrospective look back at what the GTC teams have been up to. Join us to celebrate team achievements, project announcements, industry insights, and more.
The month of October has seen the GTC team celebrate some pretty remarkable accolades, showcase our volunteering credentials, and reveal how we are looking to improve our customer journeys.
Causes for celebration
Early in the month, we received the news that our parent company BUUK achieved Infrastructure Asset Sector Leader status from GRESB, the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark. The GRESB Foundation is an independent, not-for-profit organisation that sets global standards for assessing the ESG performance of real estate, infrastructure, and other assets. With ESG being one of our core company values, we are beyond proud of this achievement. BUUK secured a 97% score, and Nicola Hindle, our CEO, said at the time “BUUK has been participating in the GRESB Benchmark since 2020 and we have been working continuously to improve our scores year on year. To achieve a 97/100 mark this year demonstrates that we have robust policies for ESG risk management and reporting across the business.”
The October celebrations didn’t stop there. Later in the month, our Land Rights team enjoyed a surprise visit from one of our long-term, legal partners, Birketts LLP to celebrate hitting our 10,000th instruction. Dimitra Baltsoukou, Land Rights Manager at GTC, said at the time: “Birketts LLP has been a trusted legal partner of ours for many years now and to celebrate this landmark milestone together was a great moment for all involved. The surprise visit was so appreciated by everyone at GTC. Warmest thanks to our Land Rights team for all the excellent work achieved. Here’s to the next 10,000!”
Volunteering and community impact
All GTC employees get eight volunteering hours per year that they spend helping a cause of their choosing. This month, 12 of our field staff in the South Region spent two days volunteering at Portsmouth Food Bank, helping to move stock from the warehouse and packing food parcels for vulnerable families. Regional Construction Manager Scott Lillie said at the time: “It was a real privilege to join forces with Portsmouth Food Bank. The cost-of-living crisis is hitting people harder than ever at the moment, so to support this organisation and help them deliver essentials to people impacted in their local community was very humbling.”
Continuing our support for local food banks, our construction team donated items to Gatehouse this month. Gatehouse is an independent charity located in Bury St Edmunds that works with vulnerable people across the whole of East Anglia. Every member of the construction team brought in items, which amounted to a large car-full being delivered to the charity. Our support didn’t stop there though, with members of the construction team visiting Gatehouse to help them assemble and pack Christmas boxes. The team managed to pack and wrap 72 boxes in four hours, which will be distributed to families in need in the lead-up to the festivities.
Customer journey
In a bid to better understand our end-user customer journeys, October saw us roll out SMS surveys to everyone who resides on our electricity and gas networks. The survey implementation aims to help us gain insight into the pinch points and successes for network customers – covering all manner of topics, from moving into their properties, to how quickly and easily they can access help and support when they need us.
The data generated from these surveys will help us benchmark our customer satisfaction performance and identify and implement any improvements to ensure we continue to provide the best possible service.
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