Member Article

Award win for Atherstone company

A Warwickshire company, which specialises in permanent access maintenance, appears on a secure path to continued growth after its latest award win.

Tim Goodbody, director of Atherstone-based Uni-Safe Access, has been named West Midlands regional Entrepreneur of the Year at the British Chambers Awards, booking his place on the shortlist for the national award in November.

The company qualified for the award as a member of the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, and installs, tests and maintains permanent access systems such as safe-wires, safety eyebolts and gantries, as well as carrying out periodic inspections of high-level equipment to ensure security and compliance with health and safety legislation.

Goodbody founded the company in 2011, along with fellow director Wayne Sweatman, having carried out similar work for 15 years, and it has doubled in size each year since.

The company aims to continue its rapid expansion with the help of the Chamber, while Goodbody will attend the national awards event at the Tower of London on Thursday, November 27.

And the firm has every chance of coming away with the prize too, as the company has already claimed a host of honours this year, including the SME and Business Start-Up Award at the Coventry Telegraph Awards, the International CSR Excellence and Green Apple Awards, from The Green Organisation, and the Team of the Year Award at the Pride of Hinckley and Nuneaton Awards.

“I was thrilled to receive this award and I am looking forward to the event in London, we are glad to be a part of it,” said Goodbody, from Kilsby in Rugby.

“We have won a couple already this year.

“Wayne and I are 50/50 partners and worked together for 15 years doing what we are doing now, but for other companies.

“In 2011 we decided to use our experience and contacts to set up our own company and it has gone from strength to strength, with business doubling year on year.

“We have gone from looking after 20 stations to more than 200, all over the country.

“We now have 10 staff, from three in our first year, and are currently expanding at our base with a new office block.

“I spoke to the president of the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce after being presented with the award and we are really looking forward to working with them, in terms of developing the business further.”

Peter Burns, the president of the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce is delighted to see Uni-Safe represent the region at the national awards.

He said: “Tim and Wayne are a fine example of entrepreneurial spirit having identified their unique position in a market and moving to turn that into a successful business.

“It is great to see them building on such growth, and providing new employment opportunities with it.

“We wish them all the best at the national awards ceremony.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Matt Joyce .