Share
We're proud to support a thriving, collaborative community of geospatial professionals, all working with street and addressing data. Each year, GeoPlace asks this community to nominate individuals whose work or approach has made a significant difference to that community, and to the collection, curation and management of street and address data right across England and Wales.
Karen Hawkes from Denbighshire County Council receiving her Award from Claire Holloway, Head of Corporate Services, Local Government Association.
The Peer Award
This year, the Peers Award has been awarded to Karen Hawkes, who until she recently retired, was the address and street custodian for Denbighshire County Council. Karen was also currently Wales Address Chair and Wales Deputy Street Chair. She's held these roles for many years, offering support and guidance to other custodians, and her commitment to furthering our work is, in of itself, worthy of commendation.
Karen was nominated for her outstanding contributions to the street and addressing community as a whole. Colleagues highlighted how her tireless focus on promotion of the LLPG and LSG across council services has resulted in more use and improved quality in even the most challenging situations, such as during the Covid pandemic when Denbighshire was carrying out shielding calls. Offering her time to all those who ask her approach to promoting custodians' interests has helped many colleagues to progress in their careers. This award marks the community's gratitude for her time, support and her dedication to maintaining high standards in address and street data.
Commendations also go to Mark Percival at Rugby Borough Council for his work in championing GIS at multiple organisations, and to Rachel Antcliffe at Leeds City Council, for her incredibly positive and pro-active approach to serving the LLPG community.
Notes:
About GeoPlace
GeoPlace LLP is a public sector limited liability partnership between the Local Government Association (LGA) and Ordnance Survey.
GeoPlace is a world class expert in address and street information management, working internationally as well as in the UK to help our partners and customers maximise the value of their spatial information for better decision making.
GeoPlace maintains a national infrastructure that supports the address and street information needs of the public and private sectors. Its work relies heavily on close working relationships with every local authority in England and Wales. This relationship has been developed over 15 years, to build the National Address Gazetteer infrastructure and National Street Gazetteer. Ordnance Survey develops the range of AddressBase products from the National Address Gazetteer and OS MasterMap Highways Network from the NSG. Both datasets underpin efficient and effective services, bringing direct service delivery benefits to users.
The Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN) and the Unique Street Reference Number (USRN) are the unique identifiers for every addressable location and street in Great Britain. They are created by local authorities who have the statutory authority to name and number every street and property and Ordnance Survey who identify objects on the landscape which may otherwise not attract an address.
These unique reference numbers link datasets together and share information with other organisations who also use them. They provide a comprehensive, complete and consistent identifier throughout a property's life cycle â from planning permission or street naming through to demolition.
