Water utility and drainage specialist Lanes Group plc has been shortlisted for three prestigious Water Industry Awards 2021.
Kirsty James and Donya Seyadi have been shortlisted for Woman of the Year and Lanes Utilities, the wastewater network service partner for Thames Water, has been shortlist for Contractor of the Year.
Kirsty James is Project Delivery Manager for Planned Cleaning and Donya Seyadi is a Health and Safety Advisor, both at Lanes Utilities, working for Thames Water.
Lanes Director Andy Brierley said: "I'm particularly proud that Kirsty and Donya have been shortlisted for Woman of the Year. They're both inspirational colleagues doing great work for our client.
"We strive to be an organisation that nurtures talent and encourages all members of our team to excel, and they reflect those values in their work, supporting others, so we can achieve great things as a team.
"I believe being shortlisted for Contractor of the Year reflects the truly exceptional and unique partnership we have with Thames Water colleagues.
"It has allowed us to continue to deliver impressive service to 15 million wastewater customers during the COVID-19 pandemic which has been one of the most challenging years in most of our lifetimes."
The Water Industry Awards, now in their 15th year, are organised by Water and Wastewater Treatment magazine and celebrate the biggest achievements in the UK water industry.
Kirsty James leads Lanes Utilities' planned sewer cleaning team which is on track to achieve its target of cleaning 1200km of sewers across the Thames Water region in 2020-21, an increase of 33% on the year before.
This represents, by far, the biggest planned cleaning programme in the UK, reducing emergency blockage clearance on cleaned sewers by a third and internal sewer floods and pollutions by over a half.
Anna Boyles, Thames Water's Head of Performance, Risk and Optimisation, said: "Kirsty has been pivotal in delivering work that is protecting the environment and our customers. Colleagues look up to her as a role model of what can be achieved."
Donya Seyadi joined Lanes Utilities as a planner in 2018. Subsequently training to be health and safety advisor, she now supports the highest safety and wellbeing standards in an operational region while leading a behavioural safety programme across the whole organisation.
Donya is also a great equality champion. Her posts on her LinkedIn profile attract tens of thousands of views and hundreds of comments.
Andy Brierley said: "Donya is a huge asset to Lanes and to Thames Water. She, and people like her, are the future of the water industry. Bright, concerned, caring, resilient and inspirational."
In the last two years, Lanes Utilities has supported Thames Water by delivering impressive efficiency savings while at the same time increasing productivity and greatly improving sustainability.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the company has maintained very high operational and health and safety standards and provided teams with world class wellbeing and mental health support.
The Water Industry Award winners will be announced at an online event on Thursday 27th May 2021.
