Business leaders have revealed their pride and delight after scooping trophies at the third and final heat of the North East Business Awards.
More than 200 people came together at Middlesbrough College where nine awards were up for grabs at the Teesside regional final, hosted by TV presenter Kirsten O’Brien. All the winners from the heat now go on to compete in the grand final at Hardwick Hall in September, where they will come up against their counterparts from the Durham, Sunderland and South Tyneside final, as well as the Tyneside and Northumberland heat.
Stockton-based Cleveland Containers was crowned Company of the Year, topping a record year for the business, which has grown rapidly since forming in 2011. As well as supplying hundreds of shipping containers every weel, the family-run firm provides modification services and also has a relatively new division of the business, supplying other companies with site accommodations such as offices and canteens.
Read more: Cleveland Containers is crowned Company of the Year at Teesside Business Awards
Jonathan Bulmer, managing director, hailed the company’s team for helping drive turnover from £1.1m to a record £60m in the current financial year, with more growth to come.
He said: “This is down to the team, the strength of the team. We’re really proud to be here and really pleased we won it and proud of where the business is going. We’ve gone from £1.1m turnover in our first year to a predicted £80m next year, and it’s all organic too. We’ve got lots of things going on at the moment, including something exciting which we’ll be revealing next week too.”
The company of the year award was the final award to be presented on the night, the first time in three years that the Teesside finalists were able to gather in person for the event, after a two-year gap for the pandemic.
Middlesbrough based Intelect, which provides engineering solutions and expertise to clients in the process, renewables and heavy industries, collected the Apprenticeships, Training & Skills Award.
Francis Cormican, managing director, said the business has run apprenticeships since 1998, having trained more than 100 people over the course of its 25 year history.
He said: “We are delighted to win this award because apprenticeships are pinnacle to our business and always have been. We have always trained our own staff because we saw the skills gap coming, and we are now reaping what we have sown.”
Made for Trade, which produces aluminium roof lanterns, sliding and bi-folding doors, has its headquarters in Wynyard Business Park, Billingham, but has recently boosted production capacilities with a new base in Hartlepool . The company took two awards on the night – the High Growth and Innovation Award and the Manufacturing Award.
Chris Wann, operations director, said the pandemic has led to more people carrying out improvements on their houses, as they were spending much more time at home and saving disposable income during lockdown, which has helped the firm to grow.
Brad Gaunt, managing director, added: “This award is great, and especially good from a local business point of view – it’s really good to have recognition in our local area. We have an engineering background and also know what customers want and understand what is needed to get products to people, and the skillset we have is amazing. It’s about looking at problems from a different angle, and that’s where we differ from the competition.”
Paul Alsop, managing director of Lucid Technology Solutions, was delighted to collect the Small Business Award.
The tech solutions firm, was formed through the merger of three companies - Yarm Computers, Dotuk and Synergy – and despite its small size is achieving impressive growth, triggering moves to establish a new office on Tyneside.
Mr Alsop said: “This award is down to the team. We have a fantastic team, an active apprenticeship scheme, and thanks to them we have a growing client base, especially in the Tyne Valley, so we think we may have found premises on Tyneside, which will be good for clients and great for us.”
The Great North Air Ambulance, the vital air ambulance service for the ill or injured people in the North, took the Services Award after judges heard how it operates its two helicopters 365 days a year, covers around 8,000 square miles.
David Stockton, the CEO, said: We put this down to having an amazing team. We thoroughly enjoy coming to work every day and yes, we have some difficult work, but this is for the team, and also for everyone who supports us, to enable us to do what we do.”
The Heart of the Community Award was won by Perimenopause Support UK CIC, a group that works to provide support and information to people experiencing perimenopause and menopause symptoms.
Gaynor Tucker, the director, set up the group initially on Facebook during lockdown. She said: “I’m so shocked to win. I set up a Facebook group last May the day after watching Davina McCall’s documentary on the menopause, and we’re now up to 11,700 members so have built up a business around it which we do in our spare time, on top of our day jobs, and it’s really taken off.”
Dash Media Ltd won the newcomer award, after judges heard how the web design and marketing services firm has gone from a team of two to 22 in the space of just two years.
Director Reece Hanlon said: “This is amazing and it means a lot for the guys we work with, we’re nothing without them. My business partner and I started by putting in just a £5,000 investment each, wanting to create an affordable agency, and we’ve been able to take some apprentices on we’re now growing really quickly.”
PD Ports took the Innovation and Technology Award, having transformed a number of the port’s systems through technological advancements, including the Port Community System (PCS), created in 2021 in partnership with the Port of Rotterdam. The PCS is designed to provide dynamic, real-time information including live shipping movements and weather forecasting.
Paul Foreman, chief technology officer, said: “We are a historic business and it’s all about moving from 1986 to 2022. There are still some parts of the business that are carried out in pen and paper, and we have a lot of things going on as part of the transformation.”
