Yorkshire businesses scoop Queen’s Awards

A record number of companies from across the UK have been named as winners of The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise 2009 – including 17 in the Yorkshire and Humber region.

A total of 194 Queen’s Awards – the UK’s highest accolade for business success – have been announced this year, the largest number awarded in 44 years of the scheme. Before this year, the record number of Awards made in a single year was 175 in 1990.

Overall, 135 companies have won Awards for International Trade, 49 for Innovation and 10 for Sustainable Development.  In addition, 11 individuals have received The Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion (QAEP) for their inspiring efforts to encourage UK entrepreneurship. Three of these are from the Yorkshire and Humber region.

Eleven companies in Yorkshire and the Humber have won the International Trade Award, and four have won the Innovation Award. Out of ten Sustainable Development Awards nationally, two are from Yorkshire and the Humber. The region’s winners are:

International Trade

• Shand Engineering, Grimsby, for oil pipeline systems;
• William Beckett Plastics, Sheffield, specialist packaging for the cutting tool industry;
• RMS Ltd, of Malton, high power electrical connectors for oil and gas industries;
• William Jackson Bakery, Ltd, Hull, baker of bespoke breads, established since 1891, one of eight businesses in the Awards established before 1900;
• Osborn Metals, Bradford, complex metal products for aerospace and energy industries, and mining products;
• ATB Morley, Ltd, Leeds, electric motors for global niche markets;
• Melett Ltd, Huddersfield, turbocharger repair kits;
• Snugpak, Silsden, West Yorks, specialist sleeping bags and cold weather clothing;
• Sematic Ltd, Wombwell, South Yorks, automatic elevator doors;
• Nisa International, Grimsby, wholesale grocery exporter;
• Turner & Townsend, Leeds, global construction and management consultancy.

Innovation

• AES Engineering, Rotherham, developer of Labtecta bearing seals which last significantly longer and improve the reliability of a range of industrial equipment, including electric motors, gearboxes and pumps, thus saving industry millions of pounds. This has enabled the company to become the second largest supplier of bearing seals in the world;
• EnviroVent Limited, Harrogate, filterless extraction fan;
• Pace Plc, Shipley, developer of set top boxes for HD TV programmes;
• Smartstak, Sheffield, one of the smaller companies in the Awards, with ten employees, for their load handling system for transporting glass bottles.

Sustainable Development

• AES Engineering, Rotherham, for pushing the bounds of good practice in sustainable design and manufacture and successfully seeking to reduce the company’s ecological footprint whilst producing products of evident environmental merit. They also won the Award for Innovation.
• Environmental Construction Products, Huddersfield, trading as Green Building Store, who have sought to develop the market for greener or more sustainable building products. They have thereby changed the approach of an industry which has previously not fully embraced this challenge and normalised the concept, whilst delivering cutting-edge sustainability.

As ever with The Queen’s Awards, the winners are from a vast range of business sectors including architecture and design, building and construction, motoring and transport, electronics and technology, manufacturing and engineering, law and finance, tourism and leisure, medical and pharmaceuticals, food and drink, oil and gas, media and marketing, metals, plastics and packaging, safety and surveillance, printing, recycling, logistics, utilities and more. They range from enterprising small businesses with as few as two employees to household names such as BBC Worldwide Ltd, transport firm Arriva plc and fashion company Paul Smith Ltd.

Business Minister, Lord Mandelson, said: “I heartily congratulate all winners of The Queen’s Awards. These inspirational firms have proved they are amongst the UK’s very best businesses. They are flying the flag for British enterprise, innovation and corporate responsibility, both here and abroad. They have achieved the UK’s most prestigious standard of business excellence, and set the standard for other businesses to follow as they help lead the UK out of recession.”

The UK’s special representative for international trade and investment, HRH The Duke of York, said: “I’m delighted to see so many companies applying for, and winning, The Queen’s Award for Enterprise this year. Over the years, I’ve visited many Queen’s Award winning firms, and have seen first hand just what a boost this Award brings to their business and their employees. My sincere congratulations to this year’s record haul of winners, and the individual recipients of The Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion, for their exceptional achievement in gaining this prestigious Award.” 

Minister for Trade & Investment, Lord Davies of Abersoch, said: “A Queen’s Award for Enterprise is an internationally-recognised symbol of business success. It is a standard that I believe all good businesses should aspire to. Past International Trade winners consistently tell us how their Award has helped open new doors for their company overseas. The fact that more firms than ever are now applying for The Queen’s Award shows what a remarkably valuable endorsement this Award continues to be around the world.”

Winners of The Queen’s Awards enjoy widespread publicity, a company visit by a Royal representative during the year to present a crystal bowl and a special reception at Buckingham Palace in July. They are also entitled to use The Queen’s Award Emblem in advertising, marketing and on packaging for a period of five years as a symbol of their quality and success.

The full list ofwinners can be found on the Queen’s Awards website (www.queensawards.org.uk) from 21 April 2009.

Applications for the 2010 Awards will be accepted from summer 2009. Further details can be found on the website (www.queensawards.org.uk).