THE Cheshire Business Awards 2012 are approaching the closing stages. This week, we highlight those shortlisted in two more categories.

MERSEY FOREST GREEN AWARD:

Quinn Glass: THE Quinn Glass site at Elton commenced operations in 2005 having being purpose built on a brown field site and from the outset was planned to be an environmentally sound manufacturing facility.

The site was designed to integrate the glass manufacturer, filling hall and a storage and distribution centre considerably reducing the number of lorry journeys had they been on separate sites and the sustainable building design enables the recovery of waste heat from the manufacturing to be utilised to heat other parts of the building.

Once manufacturing commenced on site green practice became embedded in the daily operating procedures from the use of non-portable water, using recycled glass as a raw material, waste is treated on site and then discharged via an attenuation pond, reed bed and thence existing drainage ditches, benefiting local wildfowl.

Objectives for 2012 include reducing their specific energy use by 5%, reducing waste to landfill by 20% and reducing waste costs by 10%.

20:20 Mobile Group: 20:20 MOBILE Group in Crewe are Europe’s leading distributor of mobile phones and provider of business process outsourcing service to the mobile telecoms industry.

Since 2003, with the adoption of ISO14001 their UK business introduced a number of environmental improvements generating significant savings enhancing some of their original practise including waste segregation and recycling initiatives, reduction in electricity and gas usages, installing water saving devices and a mobile phone recycling business.

Since 2004 they have maintained a registered ISO14001 Environmental Management System and the green culture is embedded in the business.

JPCS: JPCS based in Malpas has been creating sustainable energy and infrastructure in the UK for almost 20 years, delivering safe and sustainable civil engineering and maintenance service to the public and private sectors across the highways, rail and energy markets.

Sustainability is at the heart of the business with their core products, including Rejuvopatch and Groundscrew, designed to minimise the impact on the environment and prolong the life of the UK’s infrastructure.

But it’s not just JPCS’s products that are green, they have an environmental management system backed by the ISO 14001 environmental accreditation which they have held for more than 12 years.

EMPLOYER OF THE YEAR:

Barlow UK Ltd: BARLOW UK Ltd is an electrical and gas company, based in South Cheshire, undertaking domestic, commercial and industrial installation and maintenance nationwide.

Barlows UK Ltd has employed apprentices since 1980 when the company consisted of five staff and through apprentice training the business has grown to 247 staff.

The organisation’s approach to training emphasises the ‘on the job’ aspect, as the company understands the range of practical experience each member of staff requires.

All of the directors served their apprenticeships within the company and almost all of the managers and staff have followed the same path.

Apprentices and training are so important to Barlows UK to maintain their position and to plan for the future growth that their training centre is a clear focus and continues to provide quality training for trainees and employees.

Unipart Rail Crewe: UNIPART Rail Crewe employees 380 staff and is proud of the development and engagement of its employees.

Through their culture of performance through engagement, Unipart Rail has continuously maintained their Investors in People recognition since 2002 and in 2011 was awarded the Gold Standard for IIP.

They recognise that their people are their greatest asset and believe that the key to providing a sustainable business lies in attracting and retaining high quality people, keen to develop their skills to meet the challenging needs of the business.

Core to the Unipart Way of doing business is the programme of Our Contribution Counts, which encourages employees to work together and solve problems at their own level and bring innovative working solutions to their workplace and deliver real benefits to the business.

By giving their people the power to make a real difference to their workplace, engagement is maintained at a high level.

PROjEN: PROjEN was founded in 1978 and is an owner managed business that has been delivering complex process projects for more than 30 years that over the last 10 years has grown from just over 35 to 100 personnel.

Their core business involves all elements of the project lifecycle from inception through to full turnkey project completion.

They service a wide range of industries including Pharmaceutical & Healthcare, Manufacturing, Oil& Gas and BioEngergy.

PROjEN believe that having the right attitude, shared values and the need to ‘do what you say you will do’ is essential to everyone in the business.

Trust is a key element with a lack of politics and mutual respect for each other’s skills and experience being the solid foundations for their success.

Winners will be revealed on October 5 at Chester Racecourse at a glittering awards ceremony and gala dinner, hosted by TV’s Lucy Meacock.

To join us to find out who wins and network with the best businesses in Cheshire contact the events team on 01244 606472 or email enquiries@cheshirebusinessawards.co.uk.