Excellence deserves to be recognised and celebrated. The 2024 Stray Ferret Business Awards is the event to put your business, people or great initiative in the spotlight!

Make the most of your efforts by reading our top 10 tips for writing your submission for success.

Entries close on January 19, 2024.

An AA man operating from Boroughbridge has been named Patrol of the Year at the breakdown organisation’s annual awards ceremony.

The award is the AA’s highest accolade for its roadside patrols across the UK, and Chris Wood will now spend the next 12 months as the public face of the UK’s biggest drivers’ organisation, representing it within the motor industry and to the media.

Chris said:

“I can’t quite believe I’ve won this award. I was so proud just to be nominated among so many outstanding patrols, so when I heard I’d been shortlisted as one of the finalists I was absolutely gobsmacked.

“To be named Patrol of the Year is unbelievable – it hasn’t quite sunk in yet. I’m really excited to see what lies ahead during the coming year.”

The judging process began in late September with nominations from across the UK, before six finalists were put through intensive technical and driving tests, panel interviews and mock radio interviews at the AA’s head office in Basingstoke in November. The awards were held at Vox Conference Centre in Birmingham.

Dean Keeling, managing director of Roadside Services at the AA, said:

“The AA Awards ceremony gives us the opportunity to recognise the efforts of the AA people who go above and beyond to help others and the Patrol of the Year award is the epitome of this.

“Chris exemplifies the values which set AA patrols apart with the skills to turn around a broken-down driver’s day and get them back on their way despite the challenges of working at the roadside in all weathers.

“His award is a true testament to his hard work, outstanding service and dedication and is a well-deserved accolade. Congratulations to Chris and all our finalists and award winners.”

[the_ad id=”179874″] 

Snowplough maker named Bodybuilder of the Year

Ripon-based Econ Engineering is celebrating after scooping a major award at the ‘Oscars’ of the commercial motoring and road haulage industry.

The UK’s leading supplier of winter maintenance vehicles won Bodybuilder of the Year at the Commercial Motor Awards in Birmingham, where the cream of operators, dealers and suppliers competed for the top honours.

Econ, which supplies 85% of the nation’s winter maintenance vehicles from its assembly plant in Ripon, beat Lothian Vehicle Bodybuilders from Scotland and Cambridgeshire-based TVS Interfleet to the award.

A team from Econ was at the Road Transport Ball on Thursday, held at Birmingham NEC‘s, Vox Conference Centre to pick up their award.

Managing director Jonathan Lupton said:

“Words cannot describe how proud I feel right now to have come away with such a prestigious award.

“We know how hard every member of our team works to ensure that we maintain the high standards that Econ are renowned for, and this award goes to each and every one of the Econ family.”

Read more:

• Business Breakfast: Growth hub hosts business support event at Ripon Cathedral
• Business Breakfast: Council hires marketing firm to promote numeracy project
• Business Breakfast: Care equipment firm to move away from Harrogate

Jonathan Lupton started out power-washing muck spreaders when he joined Econ Engineering aged 15 in 1983.

Being one of three sons of founder Bill Lupton, he was always likely to rise through the ranks.

But it has been quite a journey. Mr Lupton has laid sand on The Mall in London during one of the late Queen’s jubilees and overseen the growth of a business that started in a farmyard barn 50 years ago to one that now employs 250 staff and has a turnover of £44 million.

Econ sells and leases gritters, salt spreaders and pothole-fixing hotboxes to local authorities and private contractors.  As the firm likes to say, ‘our fame is spreading’. It’s no idle boast: Econ is Ripon’s biggest employer and has 85% of the winter maintenance market in Britain as well as selling into eastern Europe.

It manufactures the machines at a nine-acre factory on the outskirts of the city, where the workforce includes a robot welder.  Apart from the chassis, all components are made here. It’s like a mini-Steel City where plates of alloy are cut and moulded into the gritters and snow ploughs that keep Britain’s roads moving in winter, including here in North Yorkshire.

Last year Econ opened a £7 million site in Sowerby, near Thirsk to hold its burdgeoning 1,000-strong fleet. It also has small depots in Cardiff in Wales and Alloa in Scotland.

Econ’s new site at Sowerby

This local success story is rooted in humble — and at times slightly zany — origins. Founder Bill Lupton, a longhorn cattle breeder who liked to invent things, initially sold farming products. His creations included a mid mounted hedge and verge trimmer followed by the first spinning salt distribution gritter.

Jonathan chuckles at the memory of his dad, who he says was “better at inventing things than patenting them”. Bill’s legacy continues to loom large over the company he founded in 1969, but in the late 1980s it pivoted away from agriculture to highways. Jonathan became a director in 1998 and for years ran the business alongside his brother, Andrew.

Together they developed Econ to the point where its latest accounts, for the year ending 31 March 2022, showed turnover of £43.7 million and profit of £10.41 million.

Made in Ripon

This year has been tougher, with the doubling of steel prices posing a huge headache on top of the standard energy and price rises all businesses have encountered. Brexit hasn’t helped either. Jonathan says:

“In hindsight it’s probably been a bad thing for us because it’s hampered us selling into Europe. I voted for it but it was the wrong call.”

But everything pales in comparison with the terrible weekend in January last year, when Jonathan lost both his brothers. He recalls:

“I buried my younger brother on the Friday and then Andrew had a massive heart attack that night. In the early hours of Saturday morning we were at Harrogate hospital and we lost him in the early hours of Sunday morning.”

Staff are raising £20,000 for the British Heart Foundation this year in Andrew’s memory.

The launch of Econ’s British Heart Foundation fundraising partnership this year.

Jonathan, who lives in Galphay, is very hands-on at Econ. Has losing both brothers made him consider selling-up and taking more time to pursue his passions for cycling and motor racing or walking the dogs on the beach at Sandsend? He says:

“It’s made me more determined to keep it going. My brother would have wanted the legacy to continue.”

Econ’s shareholding is now split between Jonathan and Andrew’s estate. Andrew’s son, Thomas, works for Econ and Jonathan says without hesitation Econ will remain a family-run business.

Looking ahead, he predicts hotboxes, which local authorities use to fix potholes. will account for a larger proportion of businesses.

Councils are also under pressure to reach carbon reduction schemes, and this week Econ launched its first electric gritter at the Cold Comfort 2023 trade show in Harrogate.

People love to berate the state of the roads — but this company in Ripon does more than perhaps anyone else to keep Britain moving in winter.

Read more:

• Ripon firm Econ launches first electric gritter
• Bird flu kills 70 birds at nature reserve near Ripon

The Stray Ferret Business Awards will be held on March 9 at the Pavilions of Harrogate. The event will be a celebratory night with prize draw and afterparty.

Richard Flinton, the chief executive of the new North Yorkshire Council is the guest speaker. Early bird ticket prices are available until February 9 and available to buy here. Bring your team, network and have fun. 

A Ripon company has invested £500,000 in new machinery to improve its manufacturing base.

Econ Engineering invested money into new Bystronic Xpert Pro press brakes, which are used for bending sheet metal.

The two new acquisitions, one of which is a 2500KN 3.1m machine, the other a 3200KN 4.3m machine, means the firm will be able to press materials up to a length of 7.4 metres.

This latest investment comes on the back of the family-owned and run business – which makes more than eight out of 10 winter maintenance vehicles on the UK’s roads – purchasing a £250,000 welding robot and the opening of a £7m engineering facility in Sowerby, Thirsk, which has now become home to Econ’s 1,000-strong gritter hire fleet.

Jonathan Lupton, Econ Engineering’s managing director, said: 

“The purchase of these two new press brakes is a further demonstration of our commitment to investing in new technology within our manufacturing process.

“The opening of Sowerby has given us more space within our Ripon headquarters to accommodate the press brakes and the laser cutter, which help to boost efficiency and reduce waste.

“One of our strengths is being able to adapt our products to a customer’s individual specification, and this technical advancement will enhance our ability to craft each vehicle to meet their exacting needs.”

Harrogate developer starts work on £4.5m business park

Artist’s impression of the Marrtree Business Park, Clifton Moor, York.

A Harrogate developer has started work on a £4.5 million new business park in York.

The 2.4 acre park will be built on the site of the former B&M store at Clifton Moor in the city.

Marrtree Investments is constructing the scheme, which will create a 27,000 sq ft of modern business space across four units ranging from 4,000 sq ft to 8,000 sq ft, as well as a Starbucks drive-through café.

William Marshall, director of Marrtree Investments, said: 

“We are really pleased to be bringing more of the high-quality modern business space, for which Marrtree has become well known, to York.

“Since the pandemic, well-thought-out, ergonomic workplaces, where people actively want to come to work each day, have become more important than ever and that’s what we aim to deliver with all our business parks and the kind of space that is in short supply for York employers.”

The new units are due to be completed in the autumn.

Harrogate-based HACS construction group has been appointed as main contractor for the construction of the business park.

Read more:

• Business breakfast: Finalists revealed for first Stray Ferret Business Awards
• Business Breakfast: Harrogate’s Windsor House opens pilates studio for tenants
• Business Breakfast: Bettys of Harrogate wins national retailer award

A weather warning for ice has been issued for the Harrogate district as sub-zero temperatures loom.

The warning is in force from 6pm tomorrow until noon on Thursday.

The Met Office has warned “some disruption is likely due to icy surfaces” on untreated roads, pavements and cycle paths.

The district has had remarkably little ice so far this winter.

Temperatures are expected to fall slightly below freezing tonight and then plunge to minus three degrees centigrade on the next few nights. They will struggle to rise much above freezing even during the day and light snow could fall on Friday and Saturday.

Temperatures could fall even lower in more rural areas, such as Greenhow Hill, which is the highest place in the Harrogate district.

Gritters, which operated last night, will be back out on key routes again tonight.

Read more:

• ‘We will prosecute if we have to’: On the road with Harrogate’s traffic police
• Swinton estate owner to stand against Tories in key Masham by-election

National Highways has said new high-tech gritters will be in operation across major routes in Yorkshire this winter.

Thirty-seven new vehicles have joined National Highways’ winter fleet this year as part of a national £44m investment.

Motorways and trunk roads in the county are gritted by government-owned National Highways, which was formerly Highways England.

North Yorkshire County Council, which has a winter maintenance service budget of £7.5 million, is responsible for gritting other local routes.

Earlier this year NYCC rejected a call to expand the network of Harrogate district routes it grits each winter.

In addition to the new gritters, National Highways has created two new winter maintenance depots, one just off the A64 at Malton in North Yorkshire and another off the A63 near Newport in the East Riding of Yorkshire.

From Newport, the gritters will salt more than 70 miles of the M62 and A63 from Hull docks to Ferrybridge in West Yorkshire.

Malton will treat 61 miles of the A64 from near the coast at Scarborough to York.

The highways agency says the new gritters:

• can travel at a maximum speed of 50mph when salt spreading – ten miles an hour faster than earlier vehicles
• are the cleanest and most efficient diesel heavy goods vehicles available in the UK
• allow routes to be uploaded directly into the vehicle cockpit so that drivers have the latest information on where and when to salt
• enable drivers to choose the most appropriate treatment in different road conditions.

Read More:

• New gritter tracker shows which roads in Harrogate district are being treated
• Ripon company supplies gritters for London’s roads

Senior Network Planner for Resilience Gordon Thackeray, who heads up National Highways’ winter operations in the region, said:

“We are delighted the rollout of our new state-of-the-art gritting vehicles is complete, with every machine in position and ready for the winter season ahead to help keep our road users safer on the roads, whatever weather conditions we face.

“National Highways always strives to explore and embrace innovation to benefit our road users. These vehicles are environmentally friendly, have cutting-edge technological features and can treat the roads at a higher speed than older models. 

“We now have a total of 58 vehicles ready to be deployed across Yorkshire and the North East and all of them will play their part in helping our autumn and winter operations team, including our drivers, to carry out their vital work over the next few months to treat the road surfaces whenever and wherever it is needed.”

True grit – key North Yorkshire facts 

• The county’s gritters are responsible for one of England’s largest road networks.
• 55,000 tonnes of salt is stocked in preparation for winter and the authority has 14 weather cameras set up to keep an eye on the roads.
• Crews are on call 24 hours a day and are usually out at 5am to grit the county’s road network.

Business Breakfast is sponsored by Harrogate law firm Truth Legal. 

Econ Engineering has invested £250,000 in a new robot laser MIG welder for its Ripon manufacturing base.

The company, which makes more than eight out of 10 winter maintenance vehicles on UK roads, is using the innovative machine to turn out cut and welded ‘din plates’ — the mounting used to attach plough blades to the front of gritters.

Creating din plates is a labour-intensive process and by automating this method, Econ says its team of welders can now concentrate on more intricate but less time-consuming jobs.

Econ Engineering managing director Jonathan Lupton said:

“Our new robot, which has already become a valued addition to the welding section, is now undertaking the more mundane but time-consuming jobs, which is allowing the welders to perform more interesting tasks.

“It is a superb piece of kit, and watching it work is just incredible. Several of our staff are currently being trained in how to programme and operate it, and in time it will be able to perform different welding tasks.”

Read more:

• Business Breakfast: Free course to boost start-up businesses in Harrogate district
• Business Breakfast: Harrogate law firm facilitates Norwich City FC deal

Estate agent Tim Waring joins GSC Grays

GSC Grays in Boroughbridge has welcomed housing expert Tim Waring to its team.

Mr Waring is a chartered surveyor and RICS registered valuer who has 30 years of experience working in the Yorkshire property market.

He will be based at the recently opened GSC Grays office in Boroughbridge and said he is relishing the challenge of a new role.

“I am delighted to be joining GSC Grays at an exciting time for the company as they continue to expand and grow and I am looking forward to being part of their journey.

“There is always going be, in a tough economic climate, a flight to quality and the prime residential property market in Yorkshire will continue to thrive. It remains a fact that quality always sells.”

Guy Coggrave, managing director at GSC Grays, added:

“We are thrilled to be adding Tim’s extensive skills and unrivalled experience to our new office at Boroughbridge. At GSC Grays, our mission is to bring extraordinary people together to deliver an outstanding service and the quality of our staff is the key to our success.”

Business Breakfast is sponsored by Harrogate law firm Truth Legal. 

National recognition for plant specialism at Himalayan Garden

A visitor attraction near Ripon has been awarded National Plant Collection status by Plant Heritage.

The Himalayan Garden and Sculpture Park at Grewelthorpe has been given the award for its collection of rhododendron subsect fortunea, of which it has 29 different types across its 45 acres.

Plant Heritage is a national horticultural charity aiming to conserve the diversity of garden plants in the UK and prevent species becoming extinct.

Jago Wallace, pictured, head of the national collection of rhododendrons at the garden, said:

“We have worked hard to achieve this award, undertaking specific recordings, research, care, and maintenance of these plants to keep them in good condition.

“We have created a new national collection bed to help visitors see the fortunea more closely. With the propagation of our plants being a major aim, all of the garden team have attended master classes on rhododendron propagation, which gives us the skills to improve the care of our national collection.”

The Himalayan Garden also aims to run master classes in future to allow visitors to learn the art of rhododendron propagation.

Read more:

• Carter Jonas makes new senior appointment in Harrogate
• Harrogate pregnancy brand raises £2m to grow company

Gritter firm builds community links with cricket sponsorship deal

A Ripon gritter manufacturer has agreed a deal to sponsor Thirsk Cricket Club for the 2022 season.

Econ Engineering, which has recently completed the construction of a £7m engineering facility in Sowerby, has backed the club as it builds its links with the local community.

The company has an 85% share in the UK winter roads maintenance vehicle market

Jonathan Lupton, Econ Engineering’s managing director, said:

“We are delighted to associate our name with Thirsk Cricket Club, and see this as the start of a long and fruitful partnership.

“Sowerby is now home to our 1,000-strong gritter hire fleet, which is also where they will be serviced ahead of going back out to councils, civil engineering companies and highways contractors across the UK.

“Our rental fleet had previously been based at our Ripon headquarters; however, it has now grown to such a size we needed a new base, therefore extending our operation into Sowerby.

“We are looking to increase our workforce by 50, and we hope we can attract a good number of these from the local community, hence us starting to forge a close relationship with the local community.”

Thirsk Cricket Club secretary David Richardson added:

“We would like to thank Econ Engineering for becoming our latest sponsor. The backing will enable us to continue our coaching for those looking to develop their skills within this sport.”