Leading lights are honoured by the Queen

A UNIVERSITY professor and a former student he inspired to push forward entrepreneurship in the North- East have both been honoured with Queen’s Awards today.

Professor Allan Gibb, who launched Durham University’s Small Business Centre in 1971, and David Irwin, who co-founded one of the first enterprise agencies, Project North East (PNE), in Newcastle, in 1980, are recognised with Queen’s Awards for Enterprise Promotion.

Mr Irwin credited Prof Gibb with being one of the men who inspired him to found the agency.

He said: “To be fair, it wasn’t just him, but he was certainly one of the men who inspired me when I was a student at Durham in 1976. I was an engineering student but, instead of doing a technical project, there was an option to do a management course and he was one of my lecturers, talking about small business.”

Mr Irwin was chief executive of PNE until 2000 and the first chief executive of the UK Government’s Small Business Service from 2000-2002.

He undertakes voluntary work with the Northern Youth Business Fund and Sunderland Youth Enterprise Trust and he managed Shell LiveWIRE to encourage young people to think about starting businesses.

Mr Irwin said: “I think it is great news for me personally and is fantastic recognition of the work that goes on, by others as well, to promote entrepreneurship.

“I see many parallels between now and the early Eighties when we started PNE.

“It was really hard then for people to start a business, but people who did it, did it in a way which meant they could withstand the impact of an economy not doing well and when it picked up they did markedly better.

“I would like to hope the same will happen now.

“I am delighted with the award, but it is not just individuals – I have worked with a team and I think they should share in that recognition, particularly at the enterprise agency.”

Prof Gibb’s award is for lifetime achievement and, in the past 30 years, he has developed a national reputation for his innovative and practical approach to business development programmes for entrepreneurs.

The National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship said he has had a greater impact on the way such learning was delivered than any other UK individual.

Nearly 200 companies nationally have been recognised in this year’s Queen’s Awards for Enterprise, which are awarded in three categories: international trade, innovation and sustainable development.

Major companies employing thousands in the North-East and Yorkshire, such as Arriva, Northumbrian Water and Nissan, are honoured.

But so are smaller firms, such as Cleveland Cascades, in Thornaby, which designs and manufactures loading systems, and employs 23, RMS, in Malton, North Yorkshire, which supplies electrical power cables for use in oil wells or recycling firm Greenstar WES Limited, based at the Wilton site on Teesside and employing 72 people.

Mr Irwin said he believed it was smaller firms who would play a significant part in the future resilience of the North-East.

He said: “The North-East has an economy rather built on inward investment and, when large companies close plants, they don’t close the head office, they tend to close the branch facilities.

“If more people are encouraged to start in business hopefully, they will grow these businesses, which would make us more resilient if the businesses are located locally.”

An award for innovation tops a great start to 2009 for Greenstar which, after developing new technology, recently won the contract to supply plastic for Marks & Spencer’s environmentally-friendly milk containers.

The company believes it is the first to develop the technology to convert plastic milk bottles from consumers’ bins into food-grade plastic.

It produced its first food-grade plastic using the system, sold for supermarket food trays, last August, and the company recently won a major contract to supply a cosmetics company.

During the past few months, Greenstar WES has supplied nearly 500 tonnes of foodgrade recycled plastic to packaging manufacturers such as Nampak, Sharp Interpack and Linpac Packaging, and estimates it will supply about 8,000 tonnes this year.

Greenstar WES founder and managing director James Donaldson said: “The Queen’s Award is a tribute to typical British ingenuity and application, and I and all my staff feel very privileged to have our hard work rewarded in this manner.

“We’ve sacrificed a lot to bring our dreams to fruition, and I’d like to thank all my staff for their dedication.

“Thanks too should go to our suppliers, partners and customers who share our vision for turning waste plastic into a valuable reusable resource.”

Arriva, based at the Doxford International business Park, in Sunderland, employs more than 20,000 people in the UK and was just as delighted with its award for international trade.

Having developed a network of operations in mainland Europe since 1997, the transport firm now operates in 11 countries outside the UK.

Mainland Europe is now the largest of Arriva’s three divisions, with 2007 profit topping £90m. Arriva chief executive David Martin said: “This prestigious award recognises the success we have had in transforming Arriva and firmly establishing it as one of the leading players in the European public transport industry.

“It’s especially rewarding that we have been recognised for our contribution to the UK’s international trade. When Arriva began its move into Europe, many commentators thought it couldn’t be done. Our success in that endeavour is now widely recognised.

“We have built a strong team across 12 countries, which reflects the communities where we provide transport services and a culture in which good ideas can be shared readily across the group.

“Transport is part of the real economy, it meets real social needs, it’s a necessary service. It creates a lot of jobs and helps a lot of other people do their jobs. I’m proud to be associated with a British company that is an international leader in a vital industry.”

Tracerco, based on the Belasis Hall Technology Park, in Billingham, which celebrated its 50th anniversary last year, won its innovation award for the development of a range of portable radiation monitoring instruments.

The instruments produced by the company, which employs 146 people, are designed for hazardous environments, particularly those having flammable and explosive atmospheres.

They detect low levels of many radioactive materials.

The range includes the radiation doserate monitor, which measures radiation and, simultaneously, alerts operators to dangerous dose levels through preset audible alarms, and the mud monitor, which confirm the integrity of radioactive sources during drilling operations in the oil and gas industries.

Andy Hurst, Tracerco’s managing director, said: “Winning a third Queen’s Award is a fantastic achievement and a testament to the hard work, commitment and professionalism of all our employees. To be recognised again for our innovation shows that we are committed to developing industry-leading technology “We will continue to invest to ensure that Tracerco continues to offer the industry the most advanced solutions to its ever-changing needs.”

After a difficult few months, in which it announced 1,200 redundancies, Nissan’s Sunderland plant was rewarded for international trade, recognising the plant’s increase in overseas sales from 2005 to 2007.

It is the fourth time the factory has won the award in its 23-year history, including a three-year consecutive run from 1992 to 1994, following the launch of Micra.

Senior vice-president for manufacturing Nissan Europe Trevor Mann said: “The award recognises the longterm achievement of Micra and Note, as well as the outstanding success that followed Qashqai’s introduction in 2007. The high motivation and commitment of the workforce in Sunderland is the reason why we win these awards.

“Although 2008 has been an extremely tough year and we’ve had to take some difficult but necessary steps to protect the plant, Qashqai has still performed above the original project plan.”

Northumbrian Water, in Pity Me, near Durham City, was the only North-East company to be honoured for sustainable development. The firm described the award as the “crowning glory of a triumphant 12 months”.

It is already the reigning Utility Company of the Year 2008 and the national leader for all utilities in the Business in the Community Corporate Responsibility Index – the UK’s leading benchmark of responsible business practice.

Northumbrian Water has also achieved a platinum rating and “Impact on Society Big Tick” for work done in the marketplace, workplace, environment and community and its northern customer centre has won North-East Customer Centre of the Year (under 200 seats).

Managing director John Cuthbert said: “The Queen’s Award seals a truly monumental year of recognition for Northumbrian Water and its 3,000 employees. Everyone across the business will be proud, not only of gaining this prestigious award, but also that the company will be able to fly its famous emblem.

“We also believe the award recognises the importance of the special relationships we have with a wide and diverse range of partners. The award is the crowning recognition for many years of consistent, longterm and high performance work and we are very proud of our success.”

The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise for businesses recognise the achievement of the business as a whole, with management and employees working as a team.

The awards are made each year by the Queen, on the advice of the Prime Minister, who is assisted by an advisory committee that includes representatives of Government, industry and commerce, and the trade unions. Awards are held for five years and winning firms are entitled to fly the Queen’s Award flag and display the emblem on letter headings, in advertising, on the goods themselves, and on commemorative items.