NE companies steal show at Excellence Awards

North East businesses have swept the board at the North of England Excellence Awards 2013.

Northumbrian Water - which provides water and sewage services for almost 3 million people - was named Business of the Year and also won an Excellence Award.

Assessors had all-round praise for the company, from its efficient plant to the company ethos and highly motivated staff, and described their visit to the Durham headquarters as ‘enlightening, rewarding and a real privilege’.

The GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) artwork studio at Barnard Castle, which provides packaging artwork for GSK businesses, won an Excellence Award, along with the Special Award for Customer Service and Special Award for Lean. Assessors were impressed by the commitment and enthusiasm of employees and the focus on customer needs.

Sunderland-basedpump supplier Grundfos Manufacturing Ltd won a Special Award for Sustainability. The company is part of the Denmark-based Grundfos Foundation whose Green Foundation provides seedcorn funding for environmental initiatives. Law firm DWF, which has an office in Newcastle, won a Special Award for High Growth while First TransPennine Express, which operates rail services in the North East, scooped four Special Awards – for High Growth, Learning & Development, Leadership, and Sustainability.

The winners were presented with their awards by Richard Else, Operations Director of Jaguar Land Rover, at the awards ceremony at Lancashire County Cricket Club, Manchester.

David Teale, Chief Executive of North of England Excellence, said: “The 2013 awards have once again revealed some outstanding examples of best practice in business. These are organisations which are pursuing world-class levels of performance. No doubt they will use the feedback from assessors which they have gained from taking part in the awards to raise their game even higher.”

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