Yorkshire Sustainability Excellence Award winners revealed

Quorn Foods was chosen as the overall winner of the inaugural Yorkshire Sustainability Excellence Awards.

The awards were created by the founding group of partners – TheBusinessDesk.com, Clarion, Deloitte, and Swinton Estate – to recognise the businesses and organisations that are making permanent and positive changes to their environmental impact.

“Sustainability is a word that is sometimes used a bit freely, but what does it really mean?” said Mark Cunliffe-Lister, the Earl of Swinton,  whose Swinton Estate hosted the awards lunch and presentation. “It’s a journey, and we are all on that journey. It’s been wonderful to see how many people doing something about it.”

Click here to see more images from the awards.

Guest speaker Chris Delaney, managing director of Green Building Renewables, winner of this year’s Yorkshire Leader of the Year award,  said, “Everybody in this room knows that sustainability offers many opportunities. It’s not something that’s nice to have. It’s not a chore, it’s not a restriction. In the several years I’ve been doing this there’s been a real change in mindset. Four or five years ago people would come to me and say we have to put solar panels up. We’ve been told to. Now they’re comeing and asking how they make their homes more sustainable, their businesses more sustainable, how they add value, how they add benefit.

“Sustainability offers huge opportunities – training, educations, skills, employment, infrastructure, cost savings for business and for housing, innovation and competitiveness.”

TheBusinessDesk.com joint managing director Alex Turner said, “I congratulate each and every firm who won an award today. We were thrilled with the very high standard and number of entries we received for these awards. We could have created a second shortlist that would also have been full of innovative organisations that are seeing strong results from their sustainability initiatives.

“But the companies that have made the shortlist and are with us today succeeded in answering the “what else?” and “what’s next?” questions too. You not only have strong foundations in place where sustainability is ingrained in your culture, but you are leading the way in going further and faster than your peers.”

Yorkshire Sustainability Excellence Awards 2024 Winners

Overall Winner: Quorn Foods

Judges praised the firm’s longevity, scale of impact, proper measurement and reporting. Quorn is a leader in its sector, authentic and can evidence what they have achieved and that they plan to go further.

Innovation

Winner: C-Capture
The firm is a small business with huge potential. It is truly innovative, developing a carbon-capture breakthrough with potentially huge impact on this region and globally.

Shortlist
Harmony Energy
Harrison Spinks
Kelling Group
Rix Group

Investment

Winner: Moores Furniture Group
Judges were impressed with Moores’ evidence of continued investment in sustainability over an extensive period. The firm sources recycled and responsible materials from suppliers close to its head office, has changed its delivery fleet to EVs and has taken steps to ensure reduce delivery mileage further.

Shortlist 
Astonish
Abode
Element 2
Moores Furniture Group

Best Partnership

Winner: Align Property Partners
Align’s have not only achieve great results, but judges felt their potential impact to transform the housing stock of North Yorkshire is huge.

Shortlist
Barnsley Positive Climate Partnership (PCP)
St Nicks & The Recycled Candle Co
Octopoda Innovations

Social Impact in Sustainability

Winner: Quorn Foods
Quorn donated 2.5m portions of food last year. Its food redistribution programme has a C-suite sponsor.

Shortlist
AIREA plc
Gripple
Nature’s Laboratory
Robertson Construction Yorkshire East Midlands

Circular Economy Excellence

Winner: Harrison Spinks
A family firm committed to using responsibly sourced materials. It grows its own hemp, worked with British Wool to trace origin, draws its own wires with British Steel, and has a track record of innovating to reduce environmental impact.

Shortlisted
RegenfarmCo
Surplus Group
SYNETIQ
Wernick Refurbished Buildings

Property and construction

Winner: NG Bailey
NG Bailey touches many significant developments, including airports, schools and universities, and designs to optimise their buildings

Shortlisted
Citu
Kelling Group
Sewell Construction

SME Business (up to £50m turnover)

Winner: Yorkshire Garden Centres
Judges praised it as great all-rounder, harnessing solar power and rainwater and aimcing to be carbon neutral by 2026, The firm has a sustainability manager and steering group, and is working through the Carbon Literacy Project levels. Tingley garden centre had the-then largest EV charging station in Yorkshire.

Shortlisted
Astonish
Kolorcraft
Sewell Construction
The Bio-D Company

Large Business (£50m+ turnover)

Winner: Gripple
The firm has broad impact across E, S and G, and a strong focus on each one. Sustainability champions have 30% of their work to focus on sustainability. Gripple is B Corp-certified. It is international, but committed to Sheffield.

Shortlisted
Evri
Quorn Foods
Schneider Electric