Sphere No.44 (Mar 2018)

Wales &West, working there is the best Wales &West Utilities won “Best In-House HRTeam” and “Best Apprenticeship Scheme” in the inaugural Wales Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development Awards for employee engagement and peoplemanagement. Midge and Millie sniff out disaster Northern Gas Networks’ new stars in gas leak detection are two Springer Spaniels, Midge andMillie. They are canine experts trained to detect mercaptan, the chemical that gives gas its odour, and have cut leakage detection time and unnecessary excavations. It’s early days yet, but a project in Leeds saw them save approximately GBP85,000 on the cost of correcting a series of gas leaks. Britain’s Finest! NorthumbrianWater Group has won “Utility of the Year” at the UtilityWeek Awards for 2017. It was ranked number one in the UK for customer satisfaction as well as being themost trusted and ethical water company in the nation. Congratulations! Sphere #44 2018 05 NortherNgasnetworksawarded GBP9million forhydrogen Building on the 2016 Leeds City Gate project (see Sphere 42 ), Northern Gas Networks has been awarded GBP9million fromBritain’s energy regulator, Ofgem, to further study how the UK gas distribution network can be converted to run on 100 per cent hydrogen. customers are ‘Raving’! The use of Rant &Rave’s real-time feedback platformand the exceptional response time of its Ipswich call centre has seenUKPower Networks win the “Raving Customers” award at the inaugural Ravee Awards. Of 78,500 responses in 2017, around half received a perfect 10 out of 10 from raving happy customers. ista Technikumbrings energy-efficiency R&D together in Essen From research to industrialisation, ista Technikum is a massive new facility in Essen, Germany, with 75 workplaces in 2,100 square metres developing new technologies for ‘the digital, energy- and cost-efficient multi-family building of the future’. Wireless solution is for the birds Switching fromoverhead wires to underground cables is one way UKPower Networks is working to give nature a helping hand. The GBP75,000 project will aid thousands of migrating birds passing through the NeneWashes area, providing a safe stopping place for swans, ducks, golden plovers, lapwings, snipes, Icelandic black-tailed godwits andmanymore.