Pump industry excellence is celebrated once again

The British Pump Manufacturers Association (BPMA) was delighted to return to the famous St George’s Park in Staffordshire on 14th March for the staging of its 2024 Pump Industry Awards presentation evening. With a record number of submissions across the eight categories, this year’s awards programme again produced some truly exceptional entries from right across the pump manufacturing and distribution arena.

Credited as being another huge success by all those in attendance, the event once again celebrated business and professional excellence throughout this key sector of industry. In contrast to last year’s guest speaker, England and British & Irish Lions rugby legend, Martin Bayfield, provided the after-dinner entertainment before helping to conduct the main awards ceremony. The entire event reflected the enthusiasm for live ‘in-person’ events and provided a wonderful opportunity for pump people to once again unite and connect with friends, colleagues, and clients, the value of which can never be understated.

Dale Croker, MD of KSB in the UK, and President of the BPMA opened the event and welcomed the 2024 Awards Finalists in direct acknowledgement their professional endeavour, product innovation, skills development, engineering prowess and overall service delivery. He went on to present a review of the work carried out by the BPMA on behalf of its members, emphasising the crucial role it plays in ensuring that the sector’s regulatory framework fully supports the delivery of enhanced operational efficiency, reduced energy consumption and environmentally sustainable solutions for pump operations the world over.

Wayne Rose, Director, and CEO of the BPMA, was thrilled with the overall engagement for this year’s awards programme and summed up the feeling of all by saying: “It was another great night celebrating the hard work and achievements of the pump industry. The awards dinner provides the perfect opportunity to catch up with industry colleagues and make new connections in a relaxed and friendly environment.” He continued: ”I was again impressed by the quality of entries, and I am so pleased to have this fantastic annual showcase as part of the BPMA’s support package for the pump sector.”

Long standing supporter Bob Tichband, Chief Operating Officer at SPP Pumps, echoed this sentiment by saying: “We are a proud member of the BPMA and appreciate the support it gives to UK pump manufacturers and associated companies. We were honoured to collect the coveted ‘Manufacturer of the Year’ trophy for the second year in succession, as well as the “Rising Star” accolade for one of our brightest talents, Ben Warren. Our team enjoyed a fantastic night celebrating these successes at the excellent awards dinner. We were also pleased to sponsor the ‘Environmental Contribution of the Year’ category, which was deservingly won by Bedford Pumps.

Event Director, Andrew Castle, said after the event: “For the second year running, the Hilton at St George’s Park served us extremely well, and allowed us to build on the success of the 2023 event. Our thanks, as always, must go to our Sponsors, who’s support and commitment enables us to stage such an event, and of course to all the Entrants, who’s high calibre submissions made for another demanding judging panel session.”

With sponsorship provided by a host of leading industry names, well deserved industry-wide acknowledgement was given to those businesses and individuals that have excelled in their professional endeavours. Recognising significant achievements which took place in the period up to December 2023, the eight category winners were revealed, as follows: 

• Product of the Year Sponsored by DFA Media Group
   CREST PUMPS - Assoma AVF-C Pump
• Project of the Year Sponsored by AESSEAL
   KSB and Cornish Metals - South Crofty Tin Mine
• Environmental Contribution of the Year Sponsored by SPP Pumps
    BEDFORD PUMPS - Indonesia Flood Mitigation Project
• Manufacturer of the Year Sponsored by WEG UK
    SPP PUMPS
• Distributor of the Year Sponsored by Caprari & Calpeda
    ANGLO PUMPS
• Supplier of the Year Sponsored by Wilo
    EMiR SOFTWARE
• Contribution to Skills & Training Sponsored by Crest Pumps
    JOHN CRANE - DISCOVER Graduate Engineers Program
• Rising Star Award Sponsored by World Pumps
    Ben Warren - SPP PUMPS

Charitable Donation
WaterAid is the chosen charity for this event, and in keeping with previous events a game of ‘heads or tails’ was conducted following the awards ceremony with the lucky winner receiving a bottle of bubbly donated by BPMA, and £100 in cash. A total of £1461.00 was raised on the night for WaterAid via both cash donations and the dedicated JustGiving page.

2024 Awards Programme
With advancing technology and innovation a constant entity across the sector, we are already seeking nominations and entries for the 2025 Pump Industry Awards. Maintaining our usual Spring timeline, the gala dinner and presentation ceremony will again take place in late March.

The online entry forms, which seek entries for activities and achievements that will have taken place throughout this year will be available on the website - www.pumpindustryawards.com – from Monday 3rd June, with the entry deadline set for Monday 6th January 2025. Please make a note of these important dates, and begin considering which key developments, activities, and successes you will be putting forward for industry recognition and reward. The awards are free to enter and are open to any company operating within the pump sector.

For further information on any aspect of the awards programme, please contact Event Director, Andrew Castle on 07785 290034 or by email at andrew@touchwavemedia.co.uk.