Queen's Awards highlight success of 13 Scottish firms

A host of Scottish companies has secured the prestigious Queen's Awards for Enterprise in recognition of 'outstanding' achievement in business, it was announced today.

Joe Frankel of Edinburgh-based Vegware, which was among the Queens Award winners. Picture: Ian Rutherford

Among the 13 firms north of the Border to have been given the accolade, and invited to attend a reception at Buckingham Palace, is Babcock LGE Process, part of Babcock International Group.

The business, which operates from Edinburgh’s Heriot-Watt University and designs cargo-handling systems for liquefied gas-carriers, has been awarded two of the prizes, one of only six firms to achieve a double win this year out of 249 awards.

It has been chosen in the “international trade” and “innovation” categories for its work in the liquefied petroleum gas sector, and said it has increased its workforce in Scotland in four years to more than 120 from 40.

Programme director Neale Campbell said: “Receiving one Queen’s Award would have been a remarkable achievement, but to have been successful in two categories really speaks volumes about our team.”

Also securing an international trade award is architecture practice Kettle Collective, which was founded just over three years ago.

It now has studios in Edinburgh and Dubai, and said it has been recognised for its “soaring international trade” with more than 90 per cent of its work currently coming from abroad.

The firm noted that its projects include the new headquarters for the Russian energy giant Gazprom, including what will be Europe’s tallest tower when complete in 2018.

The same category of award has been picked up by Arbroath-based Interplex PMP, which supplies the automotive, telecommunications and medical industries. It said it was recognised for its “substantial growth in overseas earnings and commercial success,” having grown overseas trade by 360 per cent.

Meanwhile, Edinburgh eco packaging firm Vegware has secured its second Queen’s Award for Enterprise in Innovation, acknowledging its progress in zero waste for food service. The firm, which said it is the fifth-fastest growing-firm in Scotland, said it has expanded by 57 per cent on average a year since 2012.

Founder and managing director Joe Frankel said winning the award again is “a huge honour”.

He added: “With the current appetite for recycling, we are soon announcing a crowdsourcing campaign to create additional composting routes. We are proud to be a sustainability leader in food service.”