Mark Bouch chaired the judging panel for Team of the Year at the recent UK Business Awards 2019

Judging for my third year in succession, I was blown away by the standard of entries for 2019 Team of the Year. With our six excellent finalists any one of them could have taken the trophy. The judges were unanimous in their opinion that the standard of submissions and presentations was the highest yet seen.

Our finalists were: GLL (who transform leisure facilities in Belfast); VHR (a high-performing technical recruitment agency), Virgin Trains IT team (who invent and develop the most amazing apps for managing delay); Wave Utilities (the hardest working HR team I have ever met); Strata Homes (the coolest housebuilder ever and winner of UK Business Awards ‘Best Place to Work’) and the Network Rail team who managed customer engagement and communications during the SE Region Three Bridges to Brighton mainline upgrade programme.

They were all amazing winners with compelling stories. Only one team could win the Gold award and it went to Network Rail. The Silver Award went to GLL and the Bronze Award to Wave Utilities HR Team. I was so pleased to have been invited again and privileged to meet them and hear their stories.