Kajima Community, part of leading public sector project developer Kajima Partnerships, won the Innovation in Customer Service Award 2009 at the recent British Institute of Facilities Management awards ceremony for its ground breaking work at Haverstock School, in London. Kajima Community runs sports, educational, social and community outreach events within all of their portfolio of eight schools.

At Haverstock, Kajima works in close partnership with the school to host a range of activities from five-a-side football to computer awareness programmes for the elderly. They also are able to exploit funding opportunities to enhance the facilities and revenue fund after school activities. This provides opportunities for people who live in the area and helps to bring the school and the local community together, both very important priorities for the local authority, the London Borough of Camden.

Chris Smith, Head of Kajima Community, said: "Engaging local communities over the long term is a core part of Kajima's business and very important in making sure that investment in public buildings brings real benefits for the people who live nearby. This award reflects and rewards the commitment and effort put in by our staff and by the school in making the most of the fabulous facilities we have at Haverstock."

Haverstock has established itself as an exemplar of how schools can work together with the private sector to provide valuable additional facilities out-of-hours. Kajima manages all aspects of this operation, in which over 2,500 local people regularly use the school for such diverse activities as sports coaching, IT training, social and after-school groups.