McAuliffe brothers take top family business award
A BLACK Country business set up by two Irish brothers four decades ago has been named the region’s top small family business.
McAuliffe Civil Engineering, founded by Larry and Maurice McAuliffe, beat competition from across the West and East Midlands to take the prize at the 2011 Midlands Family Business Awards.
The company was established in 1971 and has since grown to become of the West Midlands’ best-known environmental civil engineering contractors.
It has remained in Wolverhampton and since 2003 has had the second generation of the McAuliffe family at its helm.
Other winners at the ceremony, which welcomed 300 guests to Birmingham Town Hall, were Tamworth accountancy practice Baldwins, which was crowned the leading adviser to family businesses.
West Midlands companies also recognised were Merrythought of Ironbridge, Special EFX of Stratford-upon-Avon and Progressive Educational Tools and Tiny Teddies nursery, both of Coventry.
The winner of the top prize, Midlands family business of the year, was Nottinghamshire-based Herbert Baggaley Construction.
The awards scheme is organised by the Wilson Organisation, a third-generation financial advisor based in Nottingham, and recognises family-owned and run businesses across 10 prize categories.
The full list of winners and runners-up is:
Midlands Family Business of the Year
Winner: Herbert Baggaley Construction
Runners-up: CW Sellors Fine Jewellers and Salts Healthcare
Best Small Family Business
Winner: McAuliffe Civil Engineering
Runners-up: Civil Defence Supply and T Nutt & Sons
Fastest Growing Family Business
Winner: 99p Stores
Runners-up: Alumet Systems and Premiere Travel
Business Innovation
Winner: Asiana
Runners-up: John Pye & Sons and M Wright & Sons
Rural Family Business of the Year
Winner: Special EFX Limited
Runners-up: Limes Farm and Woodside Lodges Country Park
Service Excellence
Winner: WB Power Services
Runners-up: Hallmark Consumer Services and Tiny Teddies Day Nursery
International Development
Winner: HJ Sock Group
Runners-up: Perfection Foods and Pro Freight Solutions
Outstanding Contribution
Winners: Sarah Holmes, Merrythought and Howard Baggaley, Herbert Baggaley Construction
Runner-up: Lee Summers, Alumet Systems UK
Leading Adviser to Family Businesses
Winners: Baldwins Accountants
Runners-up: Cooper Parry and Shakepeares
Commitment to the Community
Winners: Progressive Educational Tools
Runners-up: Formation Training and Simple Stuff Works
Pic: McAuliffe Civil Engineering at the 2011 Midlands Family Business Awards, from left: Annabel Prow of Wilson Organisation with John McAuliffe, Anna-Marie McAuliffe and Stephen McAuliffe, all of McAuliffe Civil Engineering
