A national pest management company, which has its headquarters in Durham, has been presented with a prestigious award at a top industry event.
Contego Environmental Services, founded in 2004, was named winner of the Community Initiative of the Year accolade at the British Pest Management Awards, organised by UK trade body the British Pest Control Association (BPCA).
Held at ExCel London, the award ceremony formed part of the BPCA’s esteemed biennial exhibition and conference PestEx, the UK’s pest management show.
For many years Contego - which has a team of 45 people operating across the UK and its headquarters in Chilton Industrial Estate, Ferryhill - has supported small local projects for clients, charities and educational institutions and, given staff time and resources to help Cancer Research UK.
To compensate for the unavoidable impact created servicing client needs, Contego has also partnered up with Forest Carbon, planting trees in protected forests across the UK - and Michael Taylor, CEO of Contego, recently spent a night under the stars in near freezing conditions, raising £1,200 for the CEO Sleepout initiative, to help tackle homelessness and poverty across the country.
Picking up the award, Michael said: “We try to give back to the community with the work we do, and I think it’s just really important to support them.
“We’re really proud to win the award and giving back to the community is something everyone should be doing more of.”
As well as charity work, Contego has welcomed its first apprentices to the company and at the end of last year they also became Living Wage accredited.
Michael added: “I started the business with the help of the Prince’s Trust, with a £500 grant and a £1,500 loan.
“I feel that this set the foundations from the start for a giving and supportive culture within the business.
“We always aim to encourage and develop our teams at all times and this includes apprentices.
“Bringing the trainees into the team has been great and we are pretty certain they are teaching us as much as we are teaching them.
“Pest control is a profession and we are committed to paying our staff a fair pay for a day’s work. Living Wage is the first step and it is a standard we are very proud to achieve.”
Contego is one of the leading bird and pest management specialists in the UK, working within hospitality, the food industry, storage and distribution, as well as construction.
The company was also shortlisted for the BPMA’s Company of the Year accolade.
MORE INFORMATION
More about Contego
More about the British Pest Management Awards
More about PestEx 2019
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