An industry known for its commitment to causes in the community lived up to its reputation at Business Fives as they raised £6,026 for various charities in the first of two Construction, Housing & Property heats.

The summer season continued in the Glasgow sun as companies from the sector looked to book their place in the national final this September.  Supported by Scottish Construction Now, Scottish Housing News and the Scottish Property Federation, the event contributed over half of what was considered an ambitious target of £10,000 going to charity through the Business Fives summer season.

Admirable fundraising efforts from for James Gibb Residential Factors saw them raise a staggering £3,515 for their chosen charity MND Scotland as they made their way to the Europa League semi-finals.  Eventual Champions League winners A.C. Whyte & Co are making a £1,000 contribution to their annual donation to the Glasgow Children’s Hospital as they once again booked their spot in the national finals with back to back Business Fives heat wins.  MAST Architects narrowly missed out in the Europa League final raised £277 through their involvement in Business Fives to go towards their running annual total of £2,070 supporting Scottish Veterans Residences.

It was Sir Robert McAlpine who overcame MAST Architects 1 nil in a very tight Europa League final having raised £224 for Maggies.  Champions League finalists Keepmoat Engie once again booked their place at the national finals for the second year in a row raising £80 for Scottish Autism in the process.

Other notable contributions came from Thomson Gray who raised £285 for A&M Scotland as they lost out to the eventual winners at the semi-final stage.  Maggies, Scottish Autism and Glasgow Children’s Hospital are the three charities still in with the chance of winning the overall Business Fives donation as their corporate supporters head to the final.

The charity raffle for the event raised £194.10 as players supported both the Rangers & Celtic Foundations and gave themselves a chance of winning signed footballers kindly donated by both foundations.

On the pitch, the tournament initially saw 3 groups of teams playing to qualify for the Champions League, Europa League and Intertoto Cup group stages.   It was Keepmoat Engie and a team from A.C. Whyte & Co who were scoring freely notching up 28 goals between them in their opening group fixtures.  They were joined in the Champions League section by Thomson Gray who edged out of their group on goal difference ahead of the second team from A.C. Whyte & Co.

The same team from A.C. Whyte & Co found their form in the Europa League stages, recording three straight victories to make their way into the Champions League semi-finals to play against Keepmoat Engie after their 2-0 win over Thomson Gray.

With both Champions League finalists safely securing their passage to the national final it was A.C. Whyte & Co and Keepmoat who played out the final of the champions league in a one sided affair which saw the EWI installers run out 8 nil winners.  It was the goalkeeper, Gabor Szabo who picked up the man of the match award keeping an impressive 4 clean sheets on their way to the final conceding only 4 goals.  At the other end of the pitch Mate Laczi collected his second successive top goal scorer award providing the firepower.

Football is a game of fine margins and after a 1 all draw in the Europa League semi-finals Sir Robert McAlpine edged out Business Moves Group on penalties.  In the adjacent semi final James Gibb couldn’t continue their resurgence as MAST Architects ran out 5-2 winners to set up a final show down.  With only one more spot at the national final up for grabs Sir Robert McAlpine’s sole goal was enough to see them win the final in what was a very tight contest.

The action continues this month with 5 more industry sector qualifiers across Glasgow and Edinburgh as the tournament aims to reach £10,000 for charitable causes throughout Scotland, a target they are now just £1,700 away from reaching.  Follow all the action online on the Business Fives social media channels and website.