Best of the Best

In May, The Source at Meadowhall in Sheffield won the International Community Support Award 2010 at the ICSC Best of the Best Awards ceremony.

Ann Cadman with her team and their award
Director of The Source, Ann Cadman, with her team and the Best of the Best Award

The Best of the Best Awards honour the most outstanding examples worldwide of community service, design and development, sustainability, and marketing.

Director of The Source, Ann Cadman, went to the awards ceremony in Las Vegas, to collect the award on behalf of The Source and British Land. She commented afterwards: “This is a fantastic achievement for all at The Source. A big thank you to our dedicated team; they work tremendously hard to support local people, from upskilling young students and the local workforce to helping unemployed people into work.”

The Source is an innovative £5.5 million training and development centre set up by British Land and Sheffield City Council in 2003. Located adjacent to Meadowhall Shopping centre, it has held the prestigious Centre of Vocational Excellence in Retail status since 2005. In 2009, it launched as a National Skills Academy for Retail for South Yorkshire.

The Source’s success at the Best of the Best Awards follows an ICSC Foundation European Community Support Award 2009 and two Business in the Community Big Tick Awards 2010. The Source was also rated one of the 20 Best Small companies to Work For in 2009 by The Times.

The Source is not resting on its laurels. In July 2010, it hosted the official launch of the Mary Portas Retail Masterclass. The Source is now delivering this new programme, designed by Mary Portas in partnership with Skillsmart Retail. Renowned for her BBC2 show, ‘Mary, Queen of Shops’, retail icon Mary Portas has helped to revive many flagging retail businesses.