Nottingham City Council manager Martin Jackaman has been named as the nation’s top public servant.

The prestigious Guardian Public Services Awards announced Martin, Day Service Modernisation Manager in the Council’s Adult Services, Housing & Health department, as the Public Servant of the Year winner at a ceremony in London last night, winning by twice as many votes as the next contender.

He was nominated for his pioneering work to provide state-of-the-art toilets to enable people with severe disabilities to make use of them. The Changing Place toilets – part of the new £500,000 facilities developed in Greyhound Street to replace those in the Market Square – have been welcomed by users.

Martin was shortlisted for developing the Changing Places toilets in Nottingham and for his work nationally representing the Nottingham City Council on the Changing Places Consortium. This Changing Places toilet has transformed the lives of many disabled people and their families enabling them to visit and get the most out of Nottingham.

Nottingham is the first city to provide a Changing Place toilet in a city centre and is now being approached by other cities for advice. It provides a height-adjustable, adult-sized changing bench, a hoist, a peninsular toilet and plenty of space, meaning people do not have to use a toilet floor or cut short their trip into Nottingham to go home.

Martin said today: "I am proud of this achievement, because although I have been the figurehead and it has been a mission of mine, it has been a team effort and demonstrates the ambition of the Council as a whole.

"It has been a bringing together of experts and has been possible through the support of councillors and senior management. The development of new toilets in Greyhound Street was seen as a marvellous opportunity that was grabbed with both hands. This is a first – we have other plans in the pipeline to help make the city more accessible to families and their carers. At the end of the day, that’s what I am most proud of – those people who now say they can come into the city and enjoy it in a way they didn’t used to be able to."

Acting Chief Executive Adrienne Roberts said: "This is a tribute to the dedication of Martin to this project, and he is right to be proud of this award. I am delighted that his achievements and those of everyone involved in the project have been recognised. It shines the light on an example of excellence and ambition at the City Council and makes a profound difference to the lives of people who use the facility."