Honorary degree for 2 Sisters boss

RANJIT Singh, CEO of Birmingham’s 2 Sisters Food Group, is to be awarded an honorary degree from Nottingham Trent University.
 
The official citation from the university’s chancellor Kevin Cahill CBE says the honorary degree is “in recognition of his significant contribution to the food manufacturing industry, to education and the development of his workforce, and for his philanthropic interests”.
 
The citation adds that “through his work, and in communications with farmers and other partners in food manufacturing, he has become a champion for quality and reliability, and for the power of the “British brand”.
 
2 Sisters’ link with the city’s university comes from the business’s micro biological testing laboratories based at Nottingham’s BioCity, which tests nearly a million food samples a year and takes on many graduates from the university’s innovative higher apprenticeship food science course.
 
2 Sisters has also been an industrial partner in developing the university’s part-time multidisciplinary Masters programme, which starts in September.
 
Singh said: “For someone who left school at a relatively early age to pursue a business career, I am delighted and humbled to receive this honour from the university.
 
“I never imagined, 22 years after starting in business, that I would be recognised in this way.”

More awards success for planning firm founder

LOUISE Brooke-Smith, managing director of Birmingham’s Brooke Smith Planning, has been named Outstanding Achiever in the eighth Celebrating Construction West Midlands Awards.

The latest award follows her recently-completed year as the global President of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

More than 600 leaders and innovators from across the construction sector attended the ceremony at the ICC, Birmingham, to reward the West Midlands’ most inspiring construction people and projects.

Brooke-Smith said: “I am truly delighted to have won this award. While it is always humbling to be the recipient of such awards, in this case it is also a testament to the efforts of the team at Brooke Smith Planning, which has continued to gain more business throughout the past year.

“While I was flying the flag for the RICS on the international stage, the team have continued to provide exceptional planning and development advice to a large roster of clients.”

Purity Brewing Co takes National Sustainability Award

WARWICKSHIRE brewery Purity has been named Sustainable Manufacturer of the Year at the Made in the UK Awards.

The ceremony, which took place at St George’s Hall in Liverpool, saw Purity pitched against four other regional winners, with the Midlands based brewer coming out on top.

The award recognised the “company that has demonstrated the greatest commitment, though its products and processes, to forging a low carbon manufacturing future, and to have made the greatest commitment to reducing the impact of manufacturing on the environment.”

Purity MD Paul Halsey said: “At Purity, we strive daily to further improve our sustainability measures, always with the quality of the beer and the love of the craft at the forefront of our minds.

“To win this national award makes us very proud and it’s a great feeling to be representing the Midlands in sustainable manufacturing.”

GB Plastics wins national award

STAFFORDSHIRE family business General Building Plastics has been crowned Britain’s Best Small Business in the national Red Ribbon Awards.
 
The Red Ribbon Awards celebrate, recognise and honour the achievements of British family run and owned firms.
 
GB Plastics, which is celebrating its Silver Anniversary this year, is a specialist supplier of PVC building products to the trade and DIY sectors.
 
It has its head office in Rugeley, Staffordshire, a network of five further offices and trade counters across the Midlands, and has grown to a £3.5m annual turnover business.
 
GB Plastics was founded in 1990 by Janet Sutherland who continues to work in the business alongside her son Alan and eldest daughter Wendy Hill, both Directors, and youngest daughter Clare Falls.
 
After collecting the Best Small Business Award and speaking on behalf of her family, Wendy Hill said: “We are all thrilled to have won, an achievement and accolade that feels so significant in the year we are celebrating our silver anniversary and 25 years of business.

“Being amongst such esteemed and successful family firms tonight is a privilege. The evening in such a fabulous place has been amazing.”
 
According to the award judges, GB Plastics: “Completely symbolise what a small family business should be. They struck the judges as a stable company; one that knows where it is going and which has a solid and well thought-out business plan for guidance.

“This structured approach alongside a hunger for growth and passion to see the business succeed has resulted in a true gem of a family business which is admired by its customers, its community and its employees alike.”