RELOCATION specialist HCR is celebrating after scooping a top accolade at the 2014 Hampshire Business Awards.

The Basing View headquartered firm was singled out for its work to promote sustainable behaviours and practices and was named winner in the Blake Morgan Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Award category.

HCR managing director Rob Dolbear said: “We are thrilled to win this award after a tough judging process that included a written submission and two site visits just to make the final shortlist.

“This is fantastic praise for the excellent team we have here. I’m delighted that their tremendous efforts during the past year have been recognised.”

Presenting the award in front of 120 people at The Guildhall in Winchester, Manoj Styche-Patel, partner and divisional director at Blake Morgan, said: “HCR Group has both an environmental policy and a strong carbon management action plan.

“This has helped to improve operations, ensuring they have become leaner, greener and more efficient, making savings both in monetary and environmental terms.”

The judges were particularly impressed with how HCR has truly embedded sustainability into the heart of everything it does.

George Dawes, HCR’s special projects manager, who collected the award on behalf of the company, emphasised the impact of this on businesses: “Contrary to popular belief, sustain-ability does not mean more expensive,” he said.

“By its very definition something has to be sustainable and in the business world this means one of two things.

“Sustainable processes need to be more efficient than existing ones, and these processes need to be cheaper and more cost-effective than the existing ones.”

HCR won the prize ahead of finalists Croydex, based in Andover, and Southampton firm Garmin Europe.