Winning Scotland’s most prestigious award for customer focus jointly with Scottish Water was perhaps the best testimony to the real progress made in working with communities.

Delivering in a more efficient manner, which in turn delivers more for the customer, is at the heart of Solutions’ ethos and working with communities has been key to achieving that.

Implementing Scottish Water’s Consultation Code has not just meant listening to communities but a real commitment to engage them.

Through a partnership of Scottish Water’s Business and Community Relations and Media Teams with Solutions’ Project Communications Teams and Delivery partners, that process begins at the earliest stages of planning with communication packs delivered to every resident, open days, public meetings and even personal home visits from Project Managers.

Where possible, comments and concerns received from communities have been incorporated into the project.

On many occasions Solutions has postponed or rescheduled work to fit in around important events for local communities, ranging from local gala days to international events such as golf tournaments and the G8 Summit.

The scale and nature of the programme has inevitably led to some disruption but many communities have voiced their thanks for efforts to minimise that during construction.

In order to ensure the highest standard of construction activities, a growing number of Solutions’ sites took part in, and won awards from, the Considerate Constructors initiative, committing to a code of good practice covering areas such as noise, cleanliness and environmental impact.

They are all part of Scottish Water's Consideration Works initative which aims to raise awareness of the importance of Scottish Water's commitment to their customers and its reputation and to encourage considerate and respectful behaviour in all aspects of our work.

In countless areas project teams have also gone the extra mile during their time on site to engage the community by improving village amenities, school facilities and raising funds for local causes.

Once projects are under way and completed, customer satisfaction surveys monitor progress and during the year 85% of respondents said they were ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’ with Solutions’ work.