The visionary leadership of Northumbrian Water’s David Hall, Head of Commercial Strategy and Transformation, was recently celebrated at the annual Hoseason’s Conference in Birmingham, where he was presented with the Hugh Grayson Outstanding Contribution to UK Tourism Award.
The Award win comes as Kielder Winter Wonderland also marks its 20th anniversary and honours two decades of commitment from David in growing Kielder Waterside into a leading visitor destination for North East England.
In presenting the award Simon Altham, Group Chief Commercial Officer for Hoseasons, said:
“David has been extremely influential in developing and implementing the vision for Kielder Waterside within the destination of Kielder Water & Forest Park and Northumberland.
“He was instrumental in establishing the concept and vision of The Kielder Big Picture, which went on to encourage partners and funders, like One NorthEast, ERDF and the Arts Council to invest in capital developments such as the Lakeside Way, mountain bike trails, Art & Architecture programme and the social housing and workshops at Kielder village. Without David and his magnificent team’s ambition, vision and support, these developments wouldn’t have happened.
“The word to describe David would be “relentless”. David will always say it’s not the fixtures and fittings that make a park successful, it’s the people. You also need a leader of these people with the vision and creativity to support and drive that success.”
David’s passion has resulted in several initiatives being delivered with significant success including Winter Wonderland and Kielder’s unique dark skies offering. Winter Wonderland, now in its 20th year, has welcomed over 360,000 visitors.
David Hall commented:
“It was a huge surprise to be awarded the outstanding contribution to UK tourism award by Hoseasons. My time in leading the development of Kielder has been the honour of my life and without my amazing team this would never have been possible.”
Northumbrian Water and Kielder Waterside also received the Diamond Award for Exceptional Quality and Outstanding Customer Service for the second year in a row, celebrating the efforts of the whole team in delivering and driving positive customer experiences.
