It takes a village

Colin Radford (left) of WorkSafe, who sponsored the 2022 Safe and Healthy Business Award, with Curtis Gillett of Corio Village. (Supplied)

On the evening of Thursday October 27 this year, the Geelong Chamber of Commerce’s Business Excellence Awards’ night was held at GMHBA Stadium.

A pillar of Geelong’s strong business community, the Geelong Business Excellence Awards’ 2022 Safe and Healthy Business Award, sponsored by WorkSafe, was awarded to Corio Village.

Open to businesses that can demonstrate a recognition of and commitment to protect the health and safety of employees and clients, Corio Village was certainly a deserving business for this award.

Curtis Gillett, Corio Village’s centre manager, is immensely proud of the work put into the centre’s entry to the 2022 Geelong Business Excellence Awards, which happened to be their first time entering.

“One of the big things for our entry was changing the perception that people around Geelong had of Corio Village,” Curtis explains.

“The entry process was a really good opportunity for us to look back at all of our achievements over the last couple of years.”

The old adage says it takes a village – here, the combination of centre management staff, security and cleaning employees, retailers, customers and landlord has surely secured a safe and prosperous future for Corio Village.

“It was a real team effort to put together the submission, and also in bringing together all of the work that has been done throughout the year,” Curtis says.

In line with the requirements of the Safe and Healthy Business category, Corio Village introduced a myriad of health and safety measures to the centre.

“We put a lot of work into our security, with increased security hours, guards wearing body cameras and high vis, we’ve changed all of our lighting in the car park and the mall, and improved our CCTV,” Curtis says of new safety measures at the centre.

Finally, Curtis explains that the vindication of Corio Village receiving the Safe and Healthy Business Award is one for the entire community.

“I think the biggest part and what makes us so proud of winning the award is that it actually means a lot to our regular customers and shoppers,” he says.

“It’s made them proud to see some really positive things happening in their community.”

The 2022 Geelong Business Excellence Awards were proudly sponsored by LWB Business + Wealth Advisors, celebrating clever, creative and connected businesses in Geelong and the Bellarine, as well as the Surf Coast, Queenscliff and Golden Plains regions.