Presentation of top toilet awards
Following The Highland Council’s success at the Loo of the Year Awards, staff from the Education, Culture and Sport service responsible for looking after the award winning toilets were presented with their certificates at a special ceremony held on Monday (22 February) in Inverness.
40 of the toilets cared for by ECS cleaning staff received the top grading of 5 stars, 11 of which were new entries into the Loo of the Year Awards, a marked improvement from last year results. A further 24 entries were graded as 4 star.
Mount Pleasant Special Education and Nursery in Thurso took the national category award in the nursery category while Ullapool High School won the secondary schools category and the Glen Centre in Aviemore took the Scottish national award for best Day Centre. On top of these awards staff looking after toilets in Council schools were delighted in becoming the national winners of the best individual category entries for the second year running.
Mike Bone, Managing Director of Loo of the Year Awards which is promoted by the British Toilet Association, attended the ceremony and before presenting the awards he congratulating everyone on their success.
“When people are out and about they expect to be able to use good clean, safe and hygienic toilets. It is very clear that providing top facilities is high on the Council’s agenda and I would like to thank everyone involved for their tremendous work. We received 1548 entries from across the UK so to take top national category awards is a real achievement.”
Each successful entry was assessed using a strict judging criteria which included signage, décor and maintenance, cleanliness, fixtures and fittings, accessible facilities and overall management and customer care made during an unannounced visit by an authorised Loo Of The Year Awards Inspector.
Highland facilities, maintained by ECS staff which were awarded the top grading of 5 stars are:
Caithness:
• Thurso High School
• Mount Pleasant Special Education Unit & Nursery
• Wick Community Education Office
• Wick Youth Action Team
• Reay Primary
Sutherland:
• Lairg Service Point (new entry)
• Altnaharra Primary
• Gledfield Primary
• Kinlochbervie High School
• Beachview Lodge, Brora
• Dornoch Primary Nursery
• Golspie Primary (New Entry)
• Drummuie Council Office, Golspie
Ross and Cromarty:
• Invergordon Academy (new entry)
• Osprey House, Alness (new entry)
• Hilton of Cadboll Primary
• Glenelg Primary (New entry)
• Strathpeffer Primary
• Ullapool High School
• Ullapool Primary
• Assessors Office, Dingwall (new entry)
Skye & Lochalsh:
• Elgol Primary
• Portree Primary
• Struan Primary
• Tigh-na-Sgire, Portree
Lochaber:
• Isle of Eigg Primary
• Acharacle Primary (new entry)
• St Brides Primary
• Inverlochy Nursery
Inverness:
• Kirkhill Primary
• Corbett Centre (new entry)
• Spectrum Centre (new entry)
• Daviot Primary (new entry)
• Council Headquarter
• Inverness Museum
Nairn:
• Court House
Badenoch & Strathspey:
• Grantown Grammar (new entry)
• Grantown Service Point
• Caberfeidh Resource Centre, Kingussie
• The Glen Centre, Aviemore
The Highland Council’s Catering and Cleaning Manager Norma Murray said: “We have a remarkable track record of success in these awards and it is down to the commitment of teams of staff working to a very high standard and taking pride in doing their job well. What is particularly rewarding is the fact that not only have the number of entries awarded the top 5 star grading gone up but a quarter of these are for new entries. I would like to congratulate all the staff involved and thank them for their dedication and hard work.”