East Anglian Daily Times Business Awards 2016

Mark Lambert, sales director of Sunsquare, with the Business of the Year trophy.

West Suffolk skylight and rooflight specialist Sunsquare  has claimed the top honour in the 2016 East Anglian Daily Times Business Awards.

This is the 19th year the EADT has staged the awards, and the fifth year in a row they have been supported by EDF Energy and Suffolk Chamber of Commerce as joint main sponsors.

Bury St Edmunds-based Sunsquare won the Medium Business category, which was sponsored by Alan Boswell Group and open to businesses with annual turnover of between £1m and £5m, and then beat off competition from the evening’s other category winners to claim the overall Business of the Year title.

Second place overall went to the East of England Co-op, which operates across Norfolk, Suffolk and north Essex, which won the award for Environment & Sustainability, sponsored by Adnams.

And in third place was sauces and dressings manufacturer Scarlett & Mustard, from Earl Soham, near Framlingham, the winner of the Small Business category for firms with turnover of up to £1m, which was sponsored by PicassoHR.

The Large Business award, sponsored by Scrutton Bland and open to companies with turnover of more than £5m, went to clinical services provider IPRS Group, based at Little Blakenham, near Ipswich, and the Family Business category was won by The Cake Shop Bakery from Woodbridge.

Dog care provider Suffolk Canine Creche, from Martlesham, near Wood-bridge, was a double winner, picking up both the Customer Care award, sponsored by Abellio Greater Anglia, and the Future50 One to Watch title, sponsored by Nwes.

The Corporate Social Responsibility category, sponsored by Brewin Dolphin, was won by Ipswich pensions company Suffolk Life and the Raising the Bar award, recognising contributions to raising educational attainment and aspiration, jointly sponsored by Suffolk County Council and the EADT, went to The Kinetic Science Foundation, based in Bury.

In the the Food & Farming Excellence category, sponsored by Suffolk Agricultural Association, whose Trinity Park centre in Ipswich was again the venue for the awards, pride of place went to Eye-based abattoir and butchery business C&K Meats.

Martyn Jackson, chief executive of IPRS Group, won the Director of the Year category, sponsored by Barclays, and Kelly-Anne Byres of Ipswich-based healthcare staff agency Poppy Nursing Services, picked up the Young Business Person award, jointly sponsored by Suffolk New College and West Suffolk College.

This year’s award for Outstanding Achievement, sponsored by University Campus Suffolk, which is made at the discretion of the judges to an individual or organisation which has made an exceptional contribution to the region’s economy and the wider community, went to Paul Winter, chief executive of the Ipswich Building Society.

Welcoming guests to the event, EADT editor Terry Hunt thanked sponsors for their support and congratulated all the shortlisted businesses on reaching the final stage of the awards.

Sarah Howard MBE, president of Suffolk Chamber of Commerce, told guests that the chamber was calling for the Government to set out a clear timetable for “Brexit”, and to press ahead with key infrastructure projects.

Tom McGarry of EDF Energy highlighted the role played by local businesses during a recent planned outage for routine maintenance at Sizewell B power station, and in technical work being undertaken in preparation for the planned Sizewell C.

Guest speaker Karen Hester, operations director at Adnams, told of how, following an earlier career in the Army, she has worked her way through the ranks at the Southwold-based company to become chief operating officer with a seat on the main board, having initially joined as a cleaner.

She ended by posing the question: “Could someone like me make it in your company, and if not, why not – and what are you going to do about it?”

The awards ceremony was again hosted by former BBC Suffolk presenter Terry Baxter, now chief executive of the charity Inspire Suffolk and chairman of Business Improvement District delivery company Ipswich Central.

A prize draw in aid of the Pigs Gone Wild fundraising campaign for the St Elizabeth Hospice raised a total of £2,145. The prizes were a night for two people at the Salthouse Harbour Hotel in Ipswich and a round of golf for four at Ufford Park.

For further details of this year’s winners and runners-up, click here.

For further details of this year’s sponsors, click here.