Record number of businesses shortlisted for GBCC Awards

A record 92 businesses will be chasing excellence at the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce’s annual dinner and awards on Friday, 4 March.

The local business community will gather at the ICC in Birmingham next month to recognise those who have gone above and beyond in the last year.

This will be the first time the event, one of the largest business occasions in the UK, will have been held live for two years.

Judging this year’s awards were Colin Barker, senior trade commissioner, Canadian High Commission, Aftab Chughtai MBE, senior managing partner, Aftabs, Gurmit Kler, director of business engagement, University of Birmingham, Beverly Lindsay OBE, founder and general manager, Diamond Travel, Michal Nowinski, highways engineer, Arup, Eileen Schofield, founder and principal solicitor, Schofield & Associates, Ruth Todd CBE, chief commercial officer, HS2, Howard Trotter, business manager, Shelforce and Stuart Watson, managing director, Leap IT.

Chamber chief commercial officer Katrina Cooke, who chaired the judges, said: “The judges faced a mammoth task this year and we’re so grateful for the time they took to assess all entries in detail.

She said: “The standard of entries was again high with a number of previous winners and entrants joining the competition to be honoured on 4 March. We also thank the huge number of the companies who took the time to  complete entries.”

The shortlisted businesses will go head-to-head to claim one of 12 sector awards, before finding out who will be crowned as the overall Business of the Year.

The shortlisted are:

Excellence in Contribution to the Community (sponsored by Shakespeare Martineau)

·         Creative Active Lives CIC

·         Crown Highways

·         Digital Innovators

·         Edgbaston Park Hotel and Conference Centre

·         Feedo Needo

·         Make Good Grow

·         NEC Group

·         Phoebus Software 

Excellence in Customer Service

·         Clayton Hotel Birmingham

·         Indigo

·         Laight Designs

·         Nant

·         Pennycuick Collins

·         Shakespeare Martineau

·         St Philips Chambers

·         Unique Venues Birmingham 

Excellence in Hospitality & Retail

·         Adam’s Restaurant and The Oyster Club

·         Branston Golf and Country Club

·         Clayton Hotel Birmingham

·         Malmaison Birmingham

·         Selfridges Birmingham

·         The Eastside Rooms

·         Touchwood Solihull

·         Unique Venues Birmingham

Excellence in International Business

·         Burton and South Derbyshire College

·         Excitation and Engineering Services

·         Flexeserve

·         Ginho Group

·         International Synergies

·         KMB Shipping Group

·         Lakeside Products

·         Moflash Signalling

Excellence in Manufacturing (sponsored by Schumacher Packaging)

·         Armac Manufacturing (Brassfounders)

·         Evac+Chair International

·         Hardy Signs

·         Industrial Washing Machines

·         RotoSpa

Excellence in People Development

·         EiB Group

·         Entec Si

·         Fleet Evolution

·         Grant McKnight

·         Jacobs UK

·         Shakespeare Martineau

·         The Book Shelf

·         We Clean 

Excellence in Responsible Business

·         B&M Waste Services

·         Crown Highways

·         Gateley

·         NEC Group

·         Sustainability West Midlands

·         The Book Shelf

·         The Leadership Coaches

·         Unity Trust Bank

Excellence in Sales & Marketing

·         Ark Media Productions

·         Armac Manufacturing (Brassfounders)

·         BECG

·         Digital Ethos

·         EiB Group

·         Flexeserve

·         Liquid Public Relations

·         Millennium Point 

Excellence in Sustainability

·         Arup

·         B&M Waste Services

·         Birmingham County Football Association

·         Jacobs UK

·         National Express

·         Power Minerals

·         Solihull College & University Centre

·         University of Birmingham 

Excellence in Technology & Innovation (sponsored by Aston University)

·         Birmingham City University

·         G&P Group Holdings

·         Laight Designs

·         National Express

·         Phoebus Software

·         Round Midnight

·         runyourfleet.com

·         Spica Technologies

·         Unique IQ 

Excellence in Third Sector (sponsored by Unity Trust Bank)

·         Acorns Children's Hospice

·         Burton upon Trent & District YMCA

·         Cancer Research UK

·         FareShare Midlands

·         Living Well UK

·         Midlands Air Ambulance Charity

·         Millennium Point

·         Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS - Your Trust Charity

Excellence in Training & Education (sponsored by SGS UK)

·         Birmingham City University

·         BMet College

·         Burton and South Derbyshire College

·         In-Comm Training and Business Services

·         Open College Network West Midlands

·         PTP Training

·         School of Code

·         University of Birmingham

The Greater Birmingham Business of the Year is sponsored by Crowe.