Ipswich is the first BID in the UK to be assessed and certified meeting the requirements of ISO 9001:2000 management systems standard. Ipswich Central, the company that looks after Ipswich town centre, has just entered its second successful year of trading in April. Over 700 levy payers producing a fund of £3.2m over 5 years make Ipswich one of the largest BID areas in the country.

Executive Director Paul Clement said: “Our first year has been very eventful and we know we have produced significant additional front-line improvements. We are extremely pleased to have achieved this award first time around, demonstrating that we have structured and managed our business in a very capable way. This award also clearly shows to our levy payers that we maintain the highest standards of service delivery and the management of those services. We are already using the standard to continually drive improvements into every area of the BID.”

SGS auditor Nicola Rigelsford commented; “Achieving ISO9001:2000 demonstrates the highest level of business improvement commitment. Through implementation of the SGS ISO9001 Certification Ipswich Central will guarantee a consistently high level of quality throughout their business functions. Ipswich Central has worked hard to enhance their quality management systems to coincide with ISO 9001 certification. This has enabled them to deliver an improved performance and profitability for commercial businesses within the Ipswich Business Improvement District (BID).”