Landscape Services win gold for frontline digital transformation programme
Aberdeenshire Council’s Landscape Services have won a Gold Striving for Excellence Award from the Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE) in recognition of the team’s digitalisation programme that gives frontline workers better access to information, tools, and support.
The awards celebrate where Waste & Recycling, Parks, Fleet, and Grounds & Street Scene council services go above and beyond to deliver for local communities across Scotland.
The winners were announced at the recent APSE Scotland Fleet, Waste, and Grounds Seminar 2026 in Aviemore, with the Aberdeenshire Landscape Services team being overall winner in the Parks, Grounds, and Street Scene category.
The digitalisation programme was introduced to tackle a clear issue: frontline staff relied heavily on paper processes and often did not have immediate access to key information when out on location. Frontline staff were equipped with mobile devices, giving them access to maps, procedures, and health and safety information in real time, while an internal intranet site provided a single source of up-to-date information for the team.
Alongside this, the programme prioritised building staff confidence in the use of technology through hands-on “Techy Tuesday” sessions. Simple mobile apps for on-site reporting were also introduced to remove reliance on paper-based after-the-fact recording. Overall, these user-focused improvements made day-to-day work easier and more efficient.
Councillor Alan Turner, Chair of the council’s Infrastructure Services Committee, said: “This is a fantastic achievement for the team. It recognises the practical steps they’ve taken to help modernise the service, making it easier for our frontline staff to access the information and tools they need to do their jobs effectively.
“The success of this programme is down to its people-focused approach. It’s about supporting staff in how they actually work, and that delivers clear benefits for both our teams and the communities they serve. I’m delighted to see this work recognised with a gold award.”
APSE is a non-profit local-government network that works alongside more than 250 councils to deliver high-quality frontline public services across the UK.
The awards were sponsored by Econ Engineering Ltd and Farid Hillend Engineering.
Pictured with the award are some of the Landscape Services team involved in the digitalisation programme, from left to right: Landscape Services Manager Alexander Scott, Landscape Services Technical Officer (Policy) Irene Biedma, and Landscape Services Officer (Buchan) John Sibbert.
