At its Industry Awards Dinner last night (3rd November), Composites UK, the Trade Association for the UK composites industry announced the winners of its 2021 awards.
The event made a spectacular return to the National Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham, coinciding with the Advanced Engineering Show, after a year away due to the pandemic.
The 300 people in attendance witnessed the following companies take home an award:
- Employer of the Year – Leybold UK (runner up: MPM)
- Sustainability Award – B&M Longworth (runner up: Prodrive Composites)
- Innovation in Composite Design – Jaguar Land Rover (runner up: Network Rail)
- Innovation in Composite Materials – Composite Braiding (runner up: Cecence)
- Innovation in Composite Manufacture – Loop Technology (runner up: iCOMAT)
The Trevor Starr Outstanding Contribution to the Composites Industry Award, renamed to commemorate the passing of one of Composites UK’s original founders last year, will be awarded to Brett Hemingway, who is now semi-retired after being with BAE Systems for 42 years.
Brett commented: “I would just like to thank all the people I have collaborated and worked with over the decades and for the support and encouragement I have been given both inside BAE Systems and the wider composites community.”
The 2020 winners were also invited to the event for a small celebration of their achievements in lieu of a face-to-face event last year.
All of the companies shortlisted receive a commemorative plaque, international press coverage, a case study published on the Composites UK website and social media, details about their company/entry sent out to the Composites UK database and the opportunity to produce a video for the Association’s YouTube.
Claire Whysall, Marketing and Communications Manager at Composites UK said: “I would like to thank everyone involved in making this event a success but in particular our sponsors – Zund UK, Pegbox Technical Recruitment and Minden Dust Extraction Systems for staying with us after we had to postpone last year’s dinner, as well as our newest sponsors MPA Group, Rockwood Composites and Briar for supporting us as we return to live events.
“It was also a pleasure to have Kevin Matthews, CEO of Scott Bader, delivering the after-dinner speech in celebration of Scott Bader’s 100th anniversary – they company has a particularly inspiring story that we can all take elements away from.”
Case studies of all the shortlisted entries are available to download from the Composites UK website.