Bryson Charitable Group, the leading Northern Ireland social enterprise, has been awarded with the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in Sustainable Development.  This is the first time a sustainable development award has been given to a Northern Ireland organisation.

The prestigious award given out during the Queen’s birthday is in recognition of the significant contribution that Bryson has made to the social and environmental improvement of Northern Ireland. 

Hugh Crossey, Chairman of Bryson Charitable Group said: “I am delighted that Bryson has been awarded this highly prestigious honour.   This award recognises the commitment of Bryson and its staff and volunteers to sustainable development.  Bryson has been delivering services across Northern Ireland for over 100 years and is constantly changing and developing its services to meet changing social need”.

John McMullan, Chief Executive of Bryson Charitable Group said, “Sustainable development is at the very heart of what we do at Bryson.  This can be easily demonstrated by our recent launch of two new exciting services.

The first service is a new free energy advice line for householders.  It is designed to help people find out about the latest energy grants and offers plus advice on how they can make their home more energy efficient. 

The second service is a new shop managed by Bryson Recycling called “Arc Direct”.  The shop offers customers a wide range of low cost electrical appliances for the home.  The appliances have been refurbished by Bryson to a very high standard and given a new lease of life.  These appliances not only provide customers with a fantastic value for money quality product but also reduce the amount of electrical waste that ends up in landfill sites”.

These are just two examples of the wide range of sustainable work carried out by the Bryson Group.  The Group now employs over 650 staff and provides 22,000 individual services to households each day, making a significant contribution to the lives of people right across Northern Ireland.

Her Majesty The Queen made the award to Bryson on the advice of the Prime Minister, who is assisted by an advisory committee that includes representatives of government, industry and commerce, and the trade unions. The award is conferred by the Queen on her birthday, April 21st.