A LEADING housing provider with developments in Dumbarton, Alexandria and Balloch is celebrating after being awarded one of the most widely recognised business excellence accolades in Europe.

Bield Housing & Care has scooped a prestigious accreditation from the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM).

The accreditation is awarded for projects which drive change, innovation, performance improvement or transformation.

It also assists with identifying key strengths and areas which are in need of improvement within an organisation.

As part of the inspection process, Bield staff were invited to take part in two self-evaluation exercises against the EFQM excellence model.

These identified three projects linked to Bield’s Business Strategy 2018-23 which were taken forward for verification.

Independent EFQM validators, Melanie Thomson and Ann Pike, then reviewed the outcomes delivered from the three improvement projects and provided structured feedback.

Alison Gibb, business improvement officer, said: “The acknowledgement from Quality Scotland really demonstrates Bield's commitment to evolving and building upon our vision for the future.

“The feedback from the validators has given us an invaluable insight into which areas of the business need improvement and which we are progressing well.

“We will continue to use the model going forward in order to make improvements within the business and to provide the best possible service for our customers.”

Bield is a registered charity which has been providing a wide range of housing and services for around 20,000 older people across 23 local authority areas for more than 40 years.

It has sites at Oakbank, Bridge Court and The Croft in Alexandria; Church Court and Glenfinnan Gardens in Dumbarton and at Lomondgate in Balloch.