The HAE EHA Awards Hire Awards of Excellence have concluded for another year, with the major players in hire walking away with much of the glory.
Sunbelt did better than most, winning in five categories - the New Media Award for its ambitious Sunbelt 'Sunfest', the Tool & Equipment Hire Company of the Year (turnover over £10m), the SafeHire Event Hire Company of the Year (turnover Over £3m) and the Best Covid-19 Response. Meanwhile, the Young Apprenctice of the Year award was won by Sunbelt's Lucy O'Rourke.
Other award winners incude Smiths Hire for Website of the Year
HSS for Catalogue of the Year
Ardent Hire for Best Sustainability & CSR Initiative
JCB and Travis Perkins for the Product of the Year (the IT-2 site dumper)
NiftyLift for Hire Industry Supplier of the Year
PSM Hire winning SafeHire Plant, Tool & Equipment Hire Company of the Year (turnover up to £10m)
Plato Hire for SafeHire Event Hire Company of the Year (turnover up to £3m)
Travis Perkins, whose Charlotte Bingham was awarded Aprentice of the Year
Speedy, with Andrew Smith winning Workshop Manager of the Year
Hirebase, whose Lue Davies was proclaimed both Hire Manager of the Year and Hire Achiever of the Year.
Finally Brandon Hire MD and HAE Chairman Brian Sherlock presented the Outstanding Contribution to Hire Award to HAE's own Public Affairs Officer, Mark Bradshaw, who lobbied the government to classify plant & and tool hire as an 'essential service' during the lockdown.
Well done to all - and here's hoping that the next HAE awards can take place in person next year. With fair winds and following seas, that'll take place at Grosvenor House in swanky Park Lane on May 7 2022.