Orkney Islands Council's Building Standards team has won a top award at the Scottish Government's Building Standards Division awards.

They picked up Best Small Verifier category at the awards which were held on Friday 17 May as part of the Local Authority Building Standards Scotland (LABSS) AGM, in Peebles.

There were four stringent key performance criteria which the team had to excel in to achieve top place:

• Percentage of first reports issued within 20 days (including Building Warrants and amendments issued without a first report) of a valid application.

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• Percentage of building warrants and amendments issued within ten days from receipt of all satisfactory information.

• Improved customer satisfaction shown through customer service surveys.

• Annual performance report published prominently and timeously (reviewed at least quarterly) online.

The Council's Building Standards team has achieved close to 100% on the first two criteria.

Roddy Mackay is Head of Planning, Development and Regulatory Services at the Council and said: "The award covered a period that the Building Standards team were dealing with one of the most complex building projects ever in Orkney – the new Balfour Hospital.

"The team issued a completion certificate for the new building last week – icing on the cake after a busy year."

Chair of the Council's Development and Infrastructure Committee, Councillor Graham Sinclair, said: "This is a class leading performance by one of the smallest local authority Building Standards teams in the country. We are extremely proud.

"This award is a great achievement by the team and testament to their hard work – congratulations to all involved."