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Business Network Magazine

The Chamber’s highly respected flagship publication is produced ten times a year and read by thousands of business people throughout the region – with news from members featuring prominently.

Friday, 4 December 2020

P R Marriott Drilling named Derbyshire Business of the Year in final night of Chamber's 2020 Business Awards

P R Marriott Drilling's team celebrating success at the Derbyshire Business Awards in a pre-recorded video

P R Marriott Drilling, the UK’s largest onshore deep drilling company, has been crowned the Derbyshire Business of the Year by East Midlands Chamber.

The Chesterfield-based firm was recognised with the top honour, as well as the Excellence in International Trade award, at the Derbyshire Business Awards last night (Thursday 3 December).

It operates more than 25 drilling and workover rigs, as well as providing drilling and associated services to industries including oil, gas and geothermal in the UK, Europe and other international markets.

The Derbyshire Business Awards, headline sponsored by Mazars, recognised winners across 13 categories, ranging from Outstanding Growth and Innovation in Manufacturing within an organisation to individual honours for Entrepreneur of the Year and Apprentice of the Year.

This year’s event featured two new categories in the Environmental Impact Award, launched as part of the Chamber’s new Sustainable East Midlands campaign, and the Generation Next – Young Professional of the Year Award to mark the new Generation Next network for the region’s future leaders.

Finalists, chosen by a judging panel from 220 entries across the region, discovered their fate during a virtual awards ceremony hosted by BBC Radio Nottingham presenter Frances Finn.

The event, broadcast live via YouTube, had been pre-recorded at ‘AV IT Media’s studio in Derby, with finalists asked to send in their “reaction” videos.

There was a double screening of P R Marriott Drilling’s winning video, featuring its employees applauding on a staircase, after the company was selected from the 13 category winners to scoop the Derbyshire Business of the Year title.

Scott Knowles, chief executive of East Midlands Chamber, said: “Clearly, 2020 has been full of new experiences for us all and this is certainly not how we expected this year’s event would be held when we launched back in February, but like many things over the course of the past eight months, just because things are different, it doesn’t mean they’re any less special.

“There is so much to celebrate within our business community, which has really shone through during what has been a very challenging period for many. Throughout this time, there have been some incredible examples of real business success. We’ve been in awe at how many companies haven’t just stood still and clung on for their lives, but have continued to innovate and grow their way through the crisis.

“We are in the middle of an economic recovery and these are just the kinds of businesses we should be highlighting when we’re shouting about everything the East Midlands has to offer. We know it’s a great place to do business and these are living proof.

“All of this could not be possible without our sponsors. In 2020, their support has been especially huge, and it means a lot that they have stood alongside us in these strangest of times.”

The awards marked the culmination of East Midlands Chamber’s three Business Awards across Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire held over recent weeks.

Chamber president Dawn Edwards, a past winner of the Nottinghamshire Entrepreneur of the Year Award, added: “East Midlands Chamber’s Business Awards showcases the very best of businesses in the region. Many of us have heard distinctions and comparisons made between the three counties, but there’s a lot more that brings us together than divides us.

“There is innovation, resilience, fortitude, pride and generosity in everyone in our region, and it is the latter which means that whichever of the three counties you are in, there is an overwhelming sense of community.

“The tales of resilience and honesty in some of the submissions we received for the awards was truly humbling and show that the key to business success is more about overcoming setbacks, and learning from them, as it is about luck. That and a great deal of hard work and dogged determination, of course.

“The platform and promotional opportunities that come with winning at the Business Awards are wonderful, but the sense of pride and feelgood factor – not just for the recipient but for their team, supply chain and their customers – is equally, if not more, important.”

For more information on the Derbyshire Business Awards, visit www.emc-dnl.co.uk/businessawards/derbyshire/.