2007 Huntingdonshire Business Awards
Roll of Honour »
Photos from the night »
Winners Photos »
Archived Awards News
Brewers’ friend triumphs in business awards
Sponsor Peter Chandler, a partner in St Neots-based chartered accountancy firm Whitmarsh Sterland (left), is pictured with jubilant winners Mary Waudby and Jens Thorup of Pursuit Dynamics and BBC TV Look East presenter Stewart White, who compèred the ceremony.
A COMPANY whose new product can save brewers up to half the energy they use in making beer is the 2007 Hunts Post Huntingdonshire Business of the Year.
Pursuit Dynamics plc, based at Hinchingbrooke Business Park in Huntingdon, was also presented with the Innovation Award 2007 at a ceremony at the Burgess Hall, in St Ives, last night (Friday) to mark the 10th year the awards have been competed for.
The PDX wort heater from Pursuit Dynamics - the wort is the infusion of malt and hops at the heart of the brewing process -has been in development at Hinchingbrooke Business Park for three years in partnership with Brewing Research International (BRi) and brewers Coors. It is redefining the brewing industry by saving energy on an intensive process and enabling brewers to produce products cheaper, faster and greener than before, the company says.
Launched in May this year, units have already been bought by
major brewing houses, which recognise that the unique system also reduces cleaning time for equipment and the costs associated with cleaning.
In spite of speeding up the process and saving up to half the energy consumed, the new heater does not change the taste of the beer.
BRi’s technical director, Professor Richard Sharpe has described the product as “nothing short of a potential revolution in cost-saving terms for the brewing industry”.
Assessing three short-listed products for the Innovation Award, the judges said the company “has proved its huge commercial potential, raised capital to exploit it and set about doing so in an extraordinarily professional and impressive manner”.
It was, they added, “a perfect concept-to-commercialisation case study”.
The company, founded in 2000 before five years’ development work brought the PDX technology to the market place, was singled out from the other winners of corporate awards for the overall prize - The Hunts Post Huntingdonshire Business of the Year, sponsored for the 10th successive year by St Neots-based chartered accountants Whitmarsh Sterland.
“The judges recognise the fact that the company has excelled in all the areas of business - from the birth and nurturing of the business idea through to the establishment of clear and quantifiable cost benefits, and finally through to the setting up of appropriate distribution routes with tailored sales and marketing activities,” BBC TV Look East presenter Stewart White said last night.
“It all adds up to a worthy winner who, we are sure, will continue to grow and bring benefits to both Pursuit Dynamics plc and the area of Huntingdon,” he told more than 300 guests at the ceremony.
The Innovation Award 2007
In the Innovation Award category, sponsored by Greater Cambridge Partnership, Pursuit Dynamics prevailed over WaspBane, of Godmanchester, inventers of a highly-effective trap for controlling the summer pests, and Tensor plc, of Hail Weston, which has developed a fingerprint reader that can see through oil, grease and other contaminants.
Introducing the awards ceremony, Stewart White said: “These awards provide recognition for companies and individuals who are contributing to the business success, innovation, best practice and positive environmental impact in Huntingdonshire.
“They are, undoubtedly, the region’s leading awards for excellent business practice and have become hugely prestigious and highly valued, reflecting the achievement of winning companies. Tonight is about recognising and rewarding companies and individuals who are making significant contributions to Huntingdonshire business community and economic development.”
Small Business of the Year 2007
Small Business of the Year, sponsored by the Huntingdonshire branch of the Federation of Small Businesses, is Bright Visions Limited, of St Neots, which supplies information technology solutions, which won against three other short-listed candidates, The Mortgage Broker Limited, of St Neots, and next door neighbours in Hemingford Grey, high tech manufacturer Circuit Solutions Limited and TP Golf Management, which was Business of the Year in 2005.
The judges said of the winner: “The plans for the company, using a two-pronged strategy, seem well defined and thought out. They presented a clear strategy and a highly-qualified and focused top team. Good growth to date and good prospects to continue to grow.”
Since the firm started trading it has never lost a customer due to the quality of their work.
Retailer of the Year 2007
W Eaden Lilley, the St Ives department store, is Retailer of the Year 2007 in a category sponsored by chartered surveyors D H Barford and Company. It beat TP Golf Management for the prize.
Stewart White reported the judges’ comments: “Eaden Lilley have excellent product knowledge and weekly training. Some of the staff have worked for the group all their lives, and the company believes happy staff will satisfy customers. Like-for-like sales performance in the year to date, at over eight per cent, looks good in what is a tough year for high street retail.”
Business Person of the Year 2007
The award of Business Person of the Year 2007 at last produced success for TP Golf Management, the golf range, superstore and teaching academy beside the A14 at Hemingford Abbots, whose managing director Peter Durham prevailed. Mr Durham and his partner Teresa Neeson have made huge personal sacrifices over the past few years to build up the business from scratch.
The judges said: “Under his outstanding leadership TP Golf has enjoyed major sales and profit growth within a very competitive retail sector. Peter has also created and developed a very loyal and motivated staff and, at the same time, has shown very effective powers of delegation. “His five-year strategic plan is in an exciting phase with major expansion under way.”
They praised his combination of enthusiasm, business skill, marketing flair and ability to enthuse his colleagues.
In a category sponsored by solicitors Leeds Day, Mr Durham beat strong competition from Ian Pask, general manager of the Huntingdon Marriott Hotel and cluster manager for all six of the group’s hotels in the East of England, and Maxine Lester, whose company, Maxine Lester Residential Letting, of St Ives, was last year’s New Business of the Year.
The Internet Award 2007
Archant Herts and Cambs, parent company of The Hunts Post, sponsored a new category, The Internet Award 2007, which was won by St Ives industrial tape and label manufacturer and exporter Le Mark Group, whose managing director, Stuart Gibbons, is also chairman of Huntingdonshire Chamber of Commerce.
Coming close were the Huntingdon Marriott Hotel, which has already won awards for its internet site and a Brampton family business, David’s Wild Bird Feeds.
But the judges believed Le Mark’s clever use of technology to direct customers instantly to the products they needed, to cut short the ordering process and to enable them instantly to track the progress of delivery was vital.
“Effective cost management has been a major part of this project,” they said. “By working in a collaborative way with the site developers, Le Mark has retained the ability to change the website directly, avoiding unnecessary cost or delay.”
Employer of the Year 2007
Social landlord the Luminus Group, which prides itself on its own example as a model employer, stands behind the Employer of the Year 2007 award, which went to Papworth-based newcomer, network services provider Teligence Limited against strong competition from Huntingdon Racecourse and last year’s Business of the Year, the rapidly-expanding St Ives-based property services group movewithus.
The judges said Teligence “has an impressive regard for the welfare of the workforce, which has resulted in virtually no loss of staff and a very low sickness absence in a period in which the business was going through a significant change”.
Employee of the Year 2007
One of the most coveted awards of the evening is open to Huntingdonshire’s entire workforce and is sponsored by Cambridge printers Piggott Black Bear.
Employee of the Year is an opportunity for companies to put forward for recognition workers they believe have made an outstanding contribution to their commercial success.
Unusually this year, the judges were so overwhelmingly impressed by a candidate from the non-corporate sector that they named Julie White, manager of Buckden Village Hall Trust as Employee of the Year 2007, who triumphed over two other short-listed candidates, Brendan Meteer of the Huntingdon Marriott and Patrick Gay of innovative Huntingdon company Cellbond Composites, whose boss Mike Ashmead was Business Person of 2006.
The judges offered this tribute: “Julie provides a hugely important facility to the community in which she lives. She has done this through selfless dedication and a level of commitment way beyond what any employer would expect. Most impressively of all, she is driven not by personal advancement, but by her passion to serve her local community.”
Training and Development Award 2007
Appropriately, the Training and Development Award 2007, another new category for this year, was sponsored by Huntingdonshire Regional College, which is planning to move shortly to two new sites in Huntingdon and St Neots.
It came down to a straight judgment between the Huntingdon Marriott Hotel and Huntingdon Racecourse, the district’s only national sporting venue.
In the end the judges believed the award should go to the Marriott, which came close in a number of other categories, because of its impressive record in retaining employees through commitment to their personal development in a market segment with traditionally high staff turnover.
New Business of the Year 2007
New businesses are the sustaining lifeblood of Huntingdonshire’s economy, when around 90 per cent of the working population are involved in SMEs. So there is always intense interest in those that succeed, survive and prosper. This year, the award has a new sponsor, Artisan Developments (UK) Limited, which has developed many of the district’s business parks that are home to burgeoning small companies.
New Business of the Year 2007 is Langdale Academy Of Dance, of Eaton Socon, which “hugely impressed the judges by what has been achieved in such a short space of time, despite entering a competitive and established local marketplace.
“The passion, commitment and drive evidenced by the business owner was unsurpassed. The business is succeeding based on a determination to encourage young people to achieve their potential.
“The business model is to make the services accessible to all through clever pricing and to give as much as possible back to the local community.”
Other shortlisted companies were Cambridgeshire Sports Physio, of Abbots Ripton, and Hartford-based IT company RMIS Limited.
Business Development Award 2007
Equally important to the local economy is that companies that establish themselves should go on to thrive.
HSBC Bank therefore sponsors the Business Development Award 2007, which was won by last year’s New Business of the Year, Maxine Lester Residential Lettings, which has seen phenomenal growth in the last 12 months.
The judges said: “Although the company has been in business for only two years, it has achieved in excess of six per cent of the local residential letting market and doubled in size over the last 12 months.”
Sustainable Development Award 2007
Few business attributes are more socially and politically sensitive to thinking people than sustainability - the ability to trade without damaging the environment or while actually contributing to it.
Sponsors of the Sustainable Development Award 2007, St Neots-based packaging manufacturer Sealed Air, have an enviable track record and wanted the judges to find companies that could follow their example.
Even though the winner, Anglian Water Services Limited, is inextricably linked to environmental projects, it was for the charitable efforts of their employees that the firm prevailed. The judges singled out employee initiatives to encourage children to understand environmental and ecological issues, including re-introducing osprey to Rutland Water and using naturally-generated methane to produce electricity.
Judges’ Award
Although The Mortgage Broker missed out on the Small Business award, the judges, chaired by Cambridgeshire Chambers of Commerce chief executive John Bridge, were so impressed that they wanted to make a special Judges’ Award to the company to mark the 10th year the awards competition has been running.
The overall impression, they said, “is one of clear vision, raw energy and a laser-like focus on implementing the strategies, with a strong determination to succeed. The diverse background and skills of the directors is a perfect mix for their business. The Mortgage Broker is also looking to double its workforce.”
Hospital children to benefit from raffle
CHILDREN who have to go to hospital in Huntingdon will get the benefit of the £1,521 raised in a raffle at The Hunts Post Huntingdonshire Business of the Year gala dinner last week.
The money has been donated to Cambridgeshire Primary Care Trust’s Dreamdrops Appeal to buy special equipment for patients in the new children’s unit at Hinchingbrooke Hospital, which opened in September.
Behind the successful fund-raising by guests at the dinner were prizes donated by local businesses, including two gym memberships at LA Fitness, Huntingdon, an overnight break for two, donated by Champneys Health Resorts, a meal for two at Wyboston Lakes, an overnight break at the University Arms Hotel, Cambridge, with punting on the Cam the following day, given by De Vere Hotels, a two-night break at Cambridge Belfry, Cambourne, offered by Q Hotels, a £100 holiday voucher from All Round Travel, Ramsey, £150 worth of treatments or products at The Nail Retreat in St Ives, a round of golf for four at St Neots Golf Club and a set of GHD hair straighteners and 10 per cent discount donated by Hepzibah Hair & Beauty Salon, in Huntingdon.