Stockton shopping centres bag an impressive 5 awards this month
Castlegate & Wellington Square shopping centres in the heart of Stockton on Tees launched a community literacy project, “Stockton Stories” earlier this year and the initiative has received yet another award for excellence.
“Stockton Stories” that launched in April 2021 and partnered with eight local schools to create a book that is a record of what the Coronavirus pandemic has been like for children in the Teesside community. The book has then gone on to be sold to raise money for Bookmark the reading charity to help children in Stockton improve their literacy skills.
Last month, Castlegate & Wellington Square received one of the retail real estate industry’s highest accolades – the Sceptre Award for Community Initiative of the Year. The literacy project was especially recognised for its involvement in their local community that helped enhance children’s literacy skills and share their personal experiences.
Since then, the “Stockton Stories” campaign has won Not-for-profit Campaign of the Year at the North East Marketing Awards. They were up against six other local campaigns held in the North East area.
But the recognition for the shopping centres doesn’t stop there. Chantal Taylor, the Marketing Manager for both schemes, was awarded Unsung Hero at the Knight Frank Promise Awards in addition to the centre teams winning both Customer Experience and Employee Excellence at the same award ceremony.
These awards do not only show how much the centres value their community but how the scheme focuses on making a positive difference in Teesside. The inaugural awards saw the Chantal and shopping centres go against forty other nominees.
Matt Boxall, Centre Manager at the two shopping centres says: “I am so proud of the team, to have won one award is an achievement, but five is simply amazing! It is brilliant to have the work we do recognised, especially when it is something that we enjoy doing some much.”
“The Teesside community is so important to us and is at the heart of all the campaigns we run at Castlegate and Wellington Square. We are all very excited for more community initiatives in 2022” said Chantal Taylor, Marketing Manager.
The success of this community campaign is another positive for Wellington Square in Stockton, which is also experiencing a weekly footfall rate that is up 98 percent week on week.
Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council purchased the Castlegate and Wellington Square shopping centres in 2019 as part of its ambitious plans to transform the Borough’s six town centres to ensure they are fit for the future.
To find out more about “Stockton Stories” or to purchase a copy of the book visit www.castlegateshoppingcentre.com or www.wellingtonshops.co.uk