Five North East business champions have won places to compete against national companies in prestigious awards being held in London in November.
The Annual British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) awards attract leading companies and this year AV Dawson, Labman, Sound Training, Cundall and Connection Retail will be competing for top honours.
James Ramsbotham, chief executive, North East England Chamber of Commerce said: “We are delighted to be supporting these outstanding businesses in the BCC awards. They are all a great testament to the innovative and dynamic approach our region has to business development. Last year one of our members Hodgson Sayers won Business of the Year and I wish this year’s firms the best of luck.”
Representing the North East in the Export Business of the Year award is Cundall, the Newcastle upon Tyne multi-disciplinary engineering design consultancy. The business has teams based around the UK and in offices overseas.
Gordon Reid, Partner, commented: “Exporting our skills from the North East continues to be an exciting journey. In the last 12 months, staff from our office in Gosforth have spent time working in Sydney, Rio de Janeiro, Singapore and Dubai as well as numerous other locations. Access to international markets has allowed us to continue our growth and helped us to attract and retain talented staff into our business.”
Connection Retail, which has headquarters in Shildon, has been selected for the High Growth category. It sells flooring products through its websites and its delivery network.
Middlesbrough-based AV Dawson, a logistics business, is up for the Excellence in Customer Service award. A £12.5m masterplan has just been completed which has enabled the firm to grow its workforce by over a third and create a £6.5m automotive steel distribution centre.
The region’s Small Business of the Year representative is Sound Training, based in Boho Four, Middlesbrough. This company has delivered their unique teaching programme to over 24,000 students across the UK, helping to improve reading and maximise young people’s achievement, at key stages in their education.
Stokesley based Labman is fighting for top honours in the Commitment to People Development Award. Labman specialises in the design and manufacture of custom robotic automation systems for laboratory, medical, research, and industrial organisations.