On Friday 19 October, Chadwick House Group Ltd held an event at Chadwick Court to mark its 15 year anniversary as the trading arm of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health. Alongside the business celebrations, attended by CHGL chairman Chris Linguard and CIEH trustee Nigel Haverson, a number of the company's employees were presented with long service awards.

Awards for 10 years of service were gifted to: Claire Brown, editorial and production manager; Ben Tilbrook, stock controller; Sean Mohammed, IT manager; Andrew Gardner, group chief accountant; David Gilliver, acting editor of housing magazine, Jewels Summer, publications sales executive; Ian MacArthur, international project manager; Sharon Chin, Operations Manager and Dee Waite, technical and development manager. In addition, two further awards for 15 years of service were presented to Christina Jacobs, administration manager and Sue Clevett, accounts payable manager. The company started life in June 1986, when the Council of the CIEH resolved to set up a commercial company under the name Chadwick House Ltd. Between this time and 1993, when the company was facing a debt of £1m, the company was not overtly successful as a commercial enterprise. However, it has transformed dramatically over the last eight years. Following a period of restructuring, CHGL now has an annual turnover of £10m and is a world leader in food hygiene education and standards.

According to Gary Ince, managing director of CHGL, "when I joined the company in September 1994, it was not run separately but as part of the Chartered Institute. Since then, it has become a stand alone, autonomous unit under the control of the CIEH but managed independently. We are totally focused on quality and service delivery". One of the greatest transformations has taken place in the training division, which operates the CIEH examinations awarding body status. The division currently provides 18 qualifications, covering areas as diverse as environmental protection, food hygiene and health and safety, and with an annual turnover of around £6m, is three times as large as any other division. At present, CHGL is looking to broaden its base and is in the process of establishing a general qualification, the Professional Training Certificate. This qualification will allow people to practise as a general trainer in a broad range of fields.

As CHGL continues to expand, it has set its sights beyond the domestic market with major partnerships established in places as far flung as New Zealand and Italy, and training centres in 55 countries. Following its move into the US in January 2000, CIEH has become the third largest provider of food safety education in the important American market. As Gary Ince points out: "We needed a presence in the US to keep on top of the game". He adds that since going overseas, the company has decided to consolidate these markets. "We are still in the incubation period and we need to move the markets into adolescence before worrying about expanding any further."

Still, the achievements so far have enabled the CIEH to become the largest public health examinations board in the world. As Claire Brown, editorial and production manager, points out, the publishing division has grown beyond recognition since 1993. "We have diversified our publishing greatly so that we are now not only a distributor but also a publisher in our right. We do all stages of publishing in-house and are also engaged in contract work, both here and abroad". Since taking over environmental and food safety lists from Chandos books this year, the division is currently responsible for producing around 120 publications. In 1993, the events division had a minor role, organising the annual CIEH conference and three-to-four seminars a year. Nowadays, it is responsible for putting together in excess of 50 seminars, and as well as expanding the size and scope of the annual conference, it also organises international events. CHGL plans to build on these achievements by investing in growth areas; five per cent of the company's turnover is ploughed in to research and development and marketing annually.

CHGL also continues to expand its horizons internationally and has become a major sponsor of international conferences like Botswana and Jamaica, which contribute to raising the profile of CIEH. As demand for environmental products and expertise continues to grow, CHGL has an important role to play and its new five-year plan aims to double the company's turnover to £20m by 2006.