South Tyneside worker wins superstar award

Bill Richards, from South Tyneside Council, was one of 13 employees of local authority building control (LABC) teams in England and Wales to have have won the LABC Superstar Awards.

The winners were nominated by their own work colleagues because they always go the extra mile to support their customers, protect the public or improve their departments’ performance.

They were chosen by a judging panel including external building industry experts.

Chairman of the judging panel Marcus Jefford, said: “I really appreciate the efforts of building control people to deliver a good service. I was amazed by the scope and depth of work carried out by building control and we saw many examples of great work by individuals covering, training, emergencies and danger to the public, consumer protection and everyday support for good builders, architects, developers and property owners. It certainly helped me to see local authority building control in a new light.”

LABC Managing Director Phil Hammond said: “We have some fantastic people in the LABC network who frequently do far more than their job description demands. We’re in the frontline during floods and emergencies and we really care about public service and public protection. We also have our everyday work of helping the construction industry, builders, architects, agents and developers to create high quality buildings. This work is largely invisible and local authorities don’t have many ways to recognise their own Superstars. So we thought we’d say ‘thank you’ and recognise the best.”