Partner Article

CSR at Northumbrian Water

Corporate responsibility is embedded into Northumbrian Water’s everyday business practices, and as head of CR, Louise Hunter is at the heart of the activity.

In her role, Louise leads two small teams to coordinate the company’s environmental policies, partnerships, sponsorships and volunteering activities, and is incredibly passionate about the work she undertakes.

“I think that Northumbrian Water has a responsibility to give back to the communities it serves - as a monopoly company, customers are everywhere, and it is up to us to support them.” She explains. “Its one of the best jobs I could possibly imagine doing, as on a daily basis I get to see all the good things that the company does to help others and see the creative ideas that employees come up with.

“I feel very proud to work for a company that cares so much.”

Indeed, supporting her community is something Louise has been involved in for many years. As a student in Edinburgh she volunteered in a homeless shelter, but after starting her first job in 1999 soon realized that employee volunteering was not commonplace practice.

However, as well as bringing her back to her native North East, a position at Business in the Community allowed her to change these practices.

“When I took up a business development role at, this involved helping companies like Ward Hadaway and Marks & Spencer to set up volunteering programmes.

“It was great to come back to the region and put something back into the community.”

Eventually she transferred these practices to her current position at Northumbrian Water, and now each year employees give 8000 hours of their time to volunteering projects. They also provide support through partnerships and sponsorship activities, which helped over 800 organizations in 2010.

The project Louise is most passionate about is the Castle View Enterprise Academy, which Northumbrian Water co sponsored with the local authority.

“I led the project, including recruiting the leadership team and leveraging £17 million from the government to build the state of the art new school.?

“It was previously a failing school, but pass rates on attaining 5 GCSE’s 5 A*-C have now risen from 26% to 54%, and this positive impact has transferred into the community too.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .