One Oldham Business Awards

Reporter: Martyn Torr
Date published: 17 March 2010


Top business finalists


Business of the Year (under £1 million turnover)


AMPwire Ltd.,

Chadderton

AMPwire began producing bespoke products for air handling companies in April, 1992, when founder Pam Pelham spotted a gap in the market.

Companies began using CNC punched sheet metal as a cheap alternative to traditional guards but these began to fail.

When these companies needed to revert back to traditional handmade belt guards the drop in demand meant there were precious few companies able to supply the guards.

The move in the Sun Iron Works three years ago set in motion a five-year growth plan.


The Face and Body Shop,

Grotton

Valerie Simpson established her business in Grotton 13 years ago.

From that salon has developed eight treatment rooms with 20 staff — attracting a client base of more than 16,000 people, seeking salon treatments and the shop’s extensive retail offer.

Val trained in sales and merchandising as well as sales techniques.

“This has proved particularly helpful in my business and I have been able to pass this knowledge on to my staff,” she adds.

The business has two major skincare companies and several smaller in salon and currently hold over in excess of 800 lines of retail products.


PS Events Management Ltd.,

Werneth

SET up in 1999 to train unemployed people looking to break into security work, the company has developed PS Events Management Ltd. offering manned security services — and has sights on expansion in Dubai.

The enterprise received support in the early days from Glodwick SRB, the Asian Business Association and the Prince’s Trust and worked under the auspices of the Security Industry Training Organisation.

The business is now one of the leading service providers to Oldham Council and is the main contractor for security provision to Oldham Community Leisure Ltd.


Business of the Year (£1-5 million turnover)



Adamson’s Vehicle Care Centre

A family-run business, Adamson’s specialises in the repair and servicing of cars and light commercial vehicles.

Founded in 1954 it relocated to the current Cross Street site in 1987 becoming Adamson’s Crash Repair Centre.

A second repair facility, Red Lion Motors, was opened on Moorhey Street in 2006, as a dedicated fast-track fleet repair centre.

In 2009 Adamson’s diversified into mechanical repairs, servicing and accident management and re-branded to Adamson’s Vehicle Care Centre to reflect these additional services.


Interface Contracts Ltd

Chadderton-based Interface Contracts, a leading electrical and mechanical contractor, has bucked the recession to enjoy a record year in 2009 and is on target to surpass this in 2010.

“Last year saw our turnover inch towards the £5 million mark for the first time and we are heading for another record-breaking year in 2010, having already picked up business worth £1 million in January,” says managing director David Taylor.

Water treatment and wastewater treatment sector specialists Interface launched two new divisions last year — Waste Recycling and Commercial and both are doing well.


Team Spirit Ltd.,

Greenfield

Operating throughout the UK and worldwide, Team Spirit has become a market leader and pioneer for teambuilding events.

“Our ethos is ‘Nothing Is Too Much Trouble’ and we are famous within the hospitality sector for having the most passionate staff in our industry,” says managing director Ian Taylor.

Founded in May 1993, Team Spirit, at the Boarshurst Business Park, Greenfield, runs between 300 and 350 events a year.

Primarily UK based the business has 17 full-time and 40 temporary employees.


Business of the Year (over £5 million turnover)


Emanuel Whittaker Ltd.,

Royton

Operating from a landmark base in Royton for more than over 170 years, Emanuel Whittaker Ltd. manufacture bespoke joinery for public and private sector clients across the North-West.

The company, in Rochdale Road, also provide construction, regeneration and refurbishment projects to a variety of local authorities and social landlords across the region and have 14 site offices throughout Greater Manchester and Lancashire.

In family hands until 2004 until sold to current owners, Clive Newton and John Gallagher.

Inclusive Technology Ltd.,

Delph

THREE former teachers who set up their business in a former school in Broadbent Road have seen their enterprise reach a serious milestone with turnover now at £5 million plus.

Inclusive Technology Ltd., which has relocated to spacious offices at Riverside Court, Delph, has 32 employees.

Their track record over 14 years is remarkable since being established by colleagues who worked together at Manchester Special Education Micro-Electronic Resources Centre, initially as a division of games giant Ocean Software prior to a management buyout. Developing technology dominates the ethos.


Trinity Mirror Printing,

Hollinwood

OLDHAM is home to the northern hub of Trinity Mirror Printing, the print services arm of Trinity Mirror, the UK’s largest newspaper publisher.

More than 270 people are employed at the printworks, which was set up on March 1,1988, with the first live copy coming off the press on December 12.

The growth of the business in the past 22 years has been staggering. Established in the former Ferranti transformer sheds, some of the the titles produced at the Hollinwood Avenue plant include The Daily and Sunday Mirror, The People, The Liverpool Echo and the The Oldham Chronicle . . . to name but a few.


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