A sailing club, a local branch of Tesco, a County Council and a furniture manufacturer are amongst this year’s winners of the Northwest Business Environment Awards announced today.

The seventh Northwest Business Environment Awards has unmasked 14 of the region’s businesses that have demonstrated excellence in the fields of Environmental Practice, Built Environment, Sustainable Procurement, Environmental Innovation, Communications and Environmental Leadership.

The region’s foremost environmental business awards were hosted by the Mersey Basin Campaign and the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA), supported by partners from across England’s Northwest.

Walter Menzies, Chief Executive of the Mersey Basin Campaign, said: “I’m incredibly proud that during these difficult economic times businesses are demonstrating through their innovation, practices and procurement that the environmental agenda won't be left behind but rather placed firmly at the heart of their future success.

“The judges had an extremely difficult task in choosing the winners and runners up in this year’s competition as the bar is raised year on year. Each and every one of these businesses thoroughly deserves its moment in the spotlight.”

Mark Hughes, Executive Director of Economic Development at the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) said: “Once again the North West Business Environment Awards have demonstrated how seriously the region’s businesses are committed to excellence in environmental management.

“This year’s winners join an ever growing list of regional organisations that are taking the green agenda seriously, looking at ways to ensure England’s Northwest remains ahead of the game and well prepared for sustainable economic success now and in the future.”

Hosted by the Mersey Basin Campaign and the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA), the awards are supported by ENWORKS, the Royal Institute of British Architects, Envirolink Northwest, Groundwork Northwest, Environment Agency, Envirowise, Foundation, CBI Northwest, the Institute of Directors the Institute of Civil Engineers, NW Sustainable Procurement Forum and Lancaster University.