Meet the 11 Express & Star Business Awards 2024 winners
The 2024 Express & Star Business Awards was a celebration of excellence – and a chance for hard working staff to have a night off and let their hair down.
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Today we celebrate the winners of the event, which was held at Wolverhampton's Civic, with a reception beforehand at the Wulfrun Hall.
The black-tie Express & Star Business Awards event also included two special recognition awards. They were made to John Donovan from JJX Logistics, Kingswinford, who was praised as an inspirational manager and exceptional role model, and apprentice Matthew Randle, of Dreamland, for his work to transform the business.
The awards, which were attended by nearly 350 guests, were hosted by Des Coleman, the Central television weatherman and actor.
The evening raised £2,500 for the Midlands Air Ambulance based at Cosford.
1) Young Business of the Year
Sponsored by Carvers
The first award of the evening went to UK Fire Door Training.
Managing director John Millard said it was an “amazing feeling” to be recognised as Young Business of the Year.
“I’m thrilled to have won, but it is all down to a great team at UK Fire Door Training,” he said. “I think that this success will help us to grow as we have a big expansion plan ahead.
“There is plenty more to come from us in the future.”
Andy Brabazon from sponsors Carvers presented the award to the Staffordshire business that is on course to top £1 million annual turnover.
The company, based at Modular Court, Enterprise Drive, Four Ashes, was started with a modest £10,000 investment.
UK Fire Door Training, which employs five, sells online and holds classroom and practical fire door training courses.
It was established under the leadership of Andrew and Pauline Millard in April 2021 with day-to-day operations managed by their son Jonny Millard.
At the heart of its success has been effective leadership and a management ethos that is steeped in collaboration and informed decision-making.
It has revolutionised the fire door training industry by replacing outdated methods with comprehensive courses that are designed with a keen understanding of varied learning styles.
Marketing has involved harnessing the power of Google ads and e-mail marketing.
The business has also invested heavily in its own staff development with a focus on professional growth.
It is now delivering around 1,000 courses a year and plans to diversify into new training areas such as retrofit training and extinguisher handling in the future.
UK Fire Door Training moved to its current state-of-the-art training facility near to Wolverhampton in October.
The business is now poised for the next phase of growth with a clear vision to cement its status as a leading training provider for the built environment, both in the UK and internationally. UK Fire Door Training has a sense of pride in its past achievements and an unyielding optimism for the future.
Its commitment to excellence is reflected in a 4.8 Trustpilot rating, a testament to the efficacy and relevance of its CPD approved and FireQual recognised programmes.
2) Business Person of the Year
Sponsored by Richardson
The APC’s chief executive Jonathan Smith could not be at the awards to receive the Business Person of the Year trophy due to other commitments.
But speaking after the awards Mr Smith said that it meant the world to him to have won and everyone at the business was really proud of the award.
He has been in his position with the Cannock-based independent parcel delivery network for nine years.
Judges said they were inspired by his strong values and passion for the business as well as his appreciation for his wider team.
Mr Smith was said to be making great use of technology to drive efficiency but at the same time was looking after his staff through training and development as well as equal opportunity and wellbeing programmes.
The APC has grown to have around 100 depots nationally and has sortation centres at Cannock and Essington.
Mr Smith said The APC’s customer base was 32,000 small and medium-sized businesses.
“The key to our success is knowing what we are good at and sticking to it and not being diverted,” said Mr Smith.
When the business hired him, the board was looking for someone with industry clout, who understood the challenges the sector faced, and the importance of valuing its people as a number one priority.
Since joining Mr Smith has faced the challenges posed by the wider industry and business environment head-on and has transformed The APC into an employer of choice for a wide range of employees from all backgrounds and experience levels and created an environment where people can grow and progress
Last year, he also led a number of investments, including investing in 40 new double-deck trailers to its fleet.
3) Growth and Innovation Award
Massive investment in new machinery and infrastructure helped Metelec to win the Growth and Innovation award.
Proud managing director Kevin Draper said the award success was a huge testament to the whole team at Metelec.
Mr Draper said that Metelec had experienced a huge year over the last 12 months.
In Ireland Metelec moved to new premises that would enable it to grow in April and the move from Walsall to the new multi-million pound headquarters at Featherstone, near Wolverhampton, has been completed.
“It has been a brand new start for the distribution business,” he explained.
Mr Draper said he was really pleased to be recognised by the Express & Star.
“I want to congratulate the newspaper for its 150th anniversary – our own group celebrated its own 200th anniversary last year,” he said.
“What we have been trying to do is take a traditional industry through modernisation and exploring new markets including electrification and the transition to green energy.
“Getting this award is a huge recognition for what our team has been doing.
“This award is for the whole team who have been absolutely superb through the move and in keeping us growing,” said Mr Draper.
Judges were impressed by the levels of investment the business had made in new machinery and infrastructure to provide a sustainable supply chain.
Delivering value and a high quality service for customers was also an important factor.
Metelec, one of the UK’s leading manufacturers and distributors of specialist copper products, is based at Hilton Cross Business Park.
It has had a long-standing presence in the West Midlands as a metal stockholder but the last year has seen the business move to the next level, developing as a supply chain solution provider to the electrical industry and as a manufacturer of added value components.
The larger headquarters at Feathersotne has allowed Metelec to maintain industry-leading stock levels, while adding space for the new machinery needed for future manufacturing.
The new building offers first-class facilities, including multi-functional rooms for staff events, high specification showers and modern amenities.
Metelec’s business model goes far beyond being a traditional supplier, with an advanced manufacturing design service capable of producing specialist, bespoke copper products to customer specification at remarkable pace.
The business operates a machine capacity reservation programme with its vertically integrated parent product supplier. This allows Metelec to order specific products by machine at very short lead time, enabling a fast and responsive service and helping to optimise working capital. Metelec’s customers can often require products at short notice as their own construction projects are fluid and can develop at pace.
Using the latest manufacturing design software in combination with a comprehensive stock range, Metelec has the capability to produce busbars and kits of parts for switchgear assembly modules. These may be for one off requirement or long-term repeat orders.
Metelec is making a significant contribution in EV charging infrastructure by supplying and developing the copper busbar solutions used in charging station feeder pillars and within the switchgear and transformer systems necessary at the charging station/grid interface.
