BUSINESSES honoured with Queen’s Awards over the past two years were brought together for a special event organised by regional development agency One North East.

The firms earning the accolade this year included Arriva, Cleveland Cascades, HVR International, Liebherr Sunderland, Nissan and Torque Tension Systems, which were all honoured for services to international trade.

Joining them were last year’s winners, Cummins, Duco and TRW.

The regional development agency also marked the achievements of Greenstar WES, Tracerco and IHC Engineering, which this year each earned Queen’s Awards in the field of innovation.

Continuous achievement and commitment to improvement secured Northumbrian Water the Queen’s Award for sustainable development this year, following the achievements of last year’s recipient, the Shared Interest Society.

In addition to the company awards, individuals are nominated for The Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion – recognising people who have played an outstanding role in promoting the growth of business enterprise or entrepreneurial skills and attitudes in others.

This year’s winners were Professor Allan Gibb and David Irwin, who were joined by John Eversley and Michael Leithrow, who won the award last year.