Julian Buttery, head of UK community relations at National Grid, powers up for a busy week

My Day

6.00am: An early start to the week and heading off down from the Midlands to our London office. This time last week I was off to the Tory Conference as part of our public affairs team to find out what Big Society means – not sure if anyone has the answer just yet! We also won three awards last week including the global "Beyond Sport Corporation of the Year" for our partnership with Special Olympics Great Britain (www.sogb.org.uk) which is a fantastic recognition of this community programme. This week has a tough act to follow, but it will be as varied as ever in what is a great job.

8.30am: Arrive at Euston to be faced with no escalators and a huge queue to get onto the underground – I knew I should have got the earlier train for a 9 o’clock start! Arrive at the office slightly late but most other people in same boat as they have travelled from all over the country as well.

9.15am: Today is a key milestone in our new partnership with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org) as we get our newly formed cross-business team together with some key people from the foundation to further develop the programme. National Grid is one of the founding partners.

11.00am: Workshop going well and everyone is focused on some of the key events and activities for the first six months which is great. Need the obligatory coffee and BlackBerry break after the early start and then back to it.

2.30pm: Workshop finished and we take some time out as a team to reflect on where we are and the key actions. Consensus is that it went well and we are all looking forward to working on a new and exciting project for the next three years. Sustainability is at the heart of what we do as a business in keeping the lights on and the gas flowing across the UK. STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) skills are vital to our future workshop, particularly engineers, and this programme will help us raise the profile of this in schools across the country.

3.00pm: Another meeting in the office with members of one of the government departments’ looking at engaging 14 to 19 year olds in energy, climate change and sustainability. A good discussion on how we could link up some of the work we are doing in this area and we will follow up in a few weeks’ time.

4.30pm: After catching up with my former boss, who is over for a short visit from our US business, it is back on the tube – no queues this time – and on the train back up to home. It has been a productive day and I am very pleased with the outcomes from the workshop.

7.30pm: Following tea, I find out what the kids have been up to at school, including an over-excited daughter who is 13 on Wednesday, then I go to club night at my local tennis club. I was one half of the men’s doubles tournament winners at the weekend, but unfortunately that form hasn’t carried over to this week!

10.00pm: Well that’s about it for today and it’s only Monday…