Member Article

Energy Sectors? Success Stories Celebrated at NOF Dinner

NOF Energy, the business support organisation for oil, gas, nuclear and offshore renewables, has recognised the stars of the industry at its Annual Awards Dinner 2012.

Hosted by BBC TV presenter, Wendy Gibson, the sell-out event at the Hardwick Hall Hotel in Sedgefield, County Durham, celebrated the energy sectors’ success stories and rewarded a number of outstanding achievements at both company and individual level. The headline sponsors were Wilton Group, MTE and Ward Hadaway.

Categories for the awards on the night were: Innovation and Technology, International Business, New Talent, Company of the Year and the new Energy Sector Diversification award.

The prestigious Company of the Year Award was won by Phusion, formerly known as Pearson Harper, a Billingham based company that provides engineering information management services, consultancy and hosted software solutions.

Phusion was awarded the title for its innovation, significant growth in international markets over the past 12 months and the company’s ability to adapt to handle future expectations in the industry.

OSBIT Power, a Northumberland based company that provides innovative engineering solutions in offshore markets, collected the Innovation and Technology Award.

Judges acknowledged that OSBIT Power had researched the market to identify a clear innovation opportunity, had developed a robust, but unique, solution to a real industry problem and had overcome significant problems during the development process before receiving clear endorsement from industry leaders.

The celebrations continued with Phusion also winning the International Business Award for delivering significant growth in exports. Over the past five years, Phusion has trebled its staff worldwide and now receives 80% of its revenues from its work internationally.

James Watmore of Darchem Engineering, an award-winning world class engineering company based at Stillington, Stockton-On-Tees, won the award for the Best New Talent.

James, who completed an Advanced Apprenticeship and trained as a welder/fabricator at South West Durham, had already gained national recognition in the sector as Nuclear Apprentice and Supply Chain Apprentice of the Year.

He is now a Manufacturing Engineer at Darchem Engineering and is set to continue his academic studies through Higher Education. The judging panel were particularly impressed with his work to promote opportunities for apprentices within the company, his regular participation at recruitment events and his new role as an Apprenticeship Ambassador.

The new award for Energy Sector Diversification was won by DeepOcean, a provider of safe, high quality, innovative services and technologies for the subsea industry.

DeepOcean won the title for its strong strategic commitment to diversification, could demonstrate strong turnover, profit, employment and investment benefits and had a clear understanding of the future market opportunities and how their experience and technology could set them apart from their competitors.

In addition to the awards ceremony, the guests enjoyed a Scottish-themed evening with Andy Cameron, one of Scotland’s most successful and popular comedy stars, and Scottish Bagpipe rock music by the Red Hot Chilli Pipers.

Guests also had the opportunity of winning a high worth prize of a round of golf at The Duke’s, which is at the Old Course Hotel at St Andrew’s in Fife, courtesy of one of the NOF Energy strategic partners, Wood Group PSN, through a business card prize draw.

The categories and winners of the NOF Energy Awards 2012 were:

• Company of the Year, sponsored by Stapleton International - Phusion (formerly Pearson-Harper)

• Innovation and Technology, sponsored by SMD - OSBIT Power

• International Business, sponsored by Louisiana Economic Development – Phusion (formerly Pearson-Harper)

• New Talent award, sponsored by Department for Energy and Climate Change - James Watmore of Darchem Engineering

• Energy Sector Diversification Award, sponsored by Darchem Engineering - Deepocean

Alex Hayward is Managing Director of Phusion. She said: “We are delighted to have won two titles at the NOF Energy 2012 Awards Ceremony and it is a special honour to be named Company of the Year. It reflects the skills and innovations we have developed, together with the hard work and commitment of our dedicated team.”

George Rafferty, Chief Executive of NOF Energy, said: “The energy sector supply chain is a jewel in the crown of British industry and the UK economy. The NOF Energy awards recognise the continuing excellence being demonstrated by companies within the supply chain, both within the UK and internationally, as well as the innovative approaches to meeting the technical and commercial challenges of a truly global industry and rightly celebrates these achievements.”

He added: “The NOF Energy Annual Awards and Dinner is one of the most anticipated events in the energy sector calendar. Thanks to our headline sponsors; Wilton Group, MTE and Ward Hadaway, together with the support of our members, everyone had a wonderful evening celebrating our exceptional and innovative industry.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Recognition PR Business Team .