Eildon Housing Association in partnership with Hart Builders have been recognised at the first ever Scottish Procurement Alliance (SPA) awards for their creation of a dedicated community benefits project officer.

The ceremony at the Grand Central Hotel in Glasgow saw community benefits project officer Alison Lowrie receive the Best Community Benefit Initiative Award on behalf of both companies.

The entries sought had been ones that demonstrated a positive social impact on their community, no matter what size or scope, and were judged by Alice Thompson, co-founder of Social Bite.

John Duncan, director of property assets at Eildon, said: “Eildon has a long tradition of working in partnership with other organisations however our arrangement with Hart’s takes partnership working to a new level and is already showing great dividends. There are great opportunities to be gained from working in this collaborative manner. We are really excited about the community legacy over and above bricks and mortar this approach will generate across the Borders over the next three years.”

Gill Henry from Hart Builders added: “Alison’s appointment is proving invaluable to both teams and is helping to add significant value to our partnership in the Borders. We are delighted this has been formally recognised at the SPA awards and look forward to reporting some of the innovative initiatives we are working on over the coming months. Harts were also delighted to win the ‘Gold Hat’ award for best appointed contractor for our Customer Service.”

Scottish Procurement Alliance said it had been impressed by the high quality of entries received for all their awards categories, including the Best Community Benefit Fund.