The Crown Estate Award for Excellence in a Marine Business

At the annual dinner of the SCDI ( Scottish Council for Development and Industry) in Nairn on 19 September Colin Taylor Director and General Manager was presented with this award by James Smith Chairman of Shell UK.   See Below Press release.

BUCKIE SHIPYARD WINS BEST HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS MARINE BUSINESS AWARD

19 September 2008

A Moray shipyard’s track record of innovation and success in the highly competitive commercial shipbuilding and repair industry has been recognised with an award at a prestigious event celebrating Business Excellence in the Highlands and Islands.

Buckie Shipyard was presented with The Crown Estate Award for Excellence in a Marine Business at the Scottish Council for Development and Industry (SCDI) Highlands and Islands Annual Dinner and Business Excellence Awards 2008 by one of the UK’s leading businessmen, James Smith, Chairman of Shell UK. The awards ceremony was held on Friday night at The Highland Conference Centre and Newton Hotel in Nairn with over 250 guests.

The shipyard has been a key player in the Scottish marine industry for decades, working with sophisticated high value vessels and has been a major contractor to The Royal National Lifeboat Institution for over 60 years. Today, the highly skilled workforce of 60 at this wholly owned Scottish shipyard offer a wide ranging capability to the marine industry, which highly impressed the judges from The Crown Estate and SCDI, and are a major part of its continuing success. The shipyard currently builds, converts, refits and repairs Orkney ferries, MOD vessels, fishing boats and other vessels, and offers services to the aquaculture industry. It is one of the major shipyards in the UK carrying out repairs and refits of all classes of lifeboat vessels and is one of only three yards carrying out refits on the large 'Severn' Class Lifeboats.

The award for Buckie Shipyard was collected by its new Director, Colin Taylor, who has just moved to the Moray coast from Dorset to take up the post. He said: “Having just taken up the helm at Buckie, I am very pleased with this fantastic award, and for the workforce to gain the recognition that they and Buckie Shipyard well deserve. This will give great impetus to the new management team to develop and build the business further.”

Congratulating Buckie Shipyard, Alasdair Rankin, Head of Marine Development in Scotland for The Crown Estate, said: “We were hugely impressed by the ability of this wholly Scottish-owned company to thrive in such a tough commercial environment. We felt Buckie Shipyard’s flexibility and willingness to diversify as markets change was a key part of their competitiveness and continuing success.”

Gareth Williams, SCDI Highlands and Islands Manager, added: “Buckie Shipyard is a worthy winner. The high levels of innovation and added value it has offered over many years is a key reason it is trusted by customers around the UK for such important work. It ably demonstrates the skills and resilience in our coastal communities.”

The full list of awards was:

• The Crown Estate Award for Excellence in a Marine Business – Buckie Shipyard Limited, Buckie, Banffshire.
• Caledonian MacBrayne Award for Excellence in Tourism – Duart Castle Partnership, Isle of Mull, Argyll.
• Envirowise for Excellence in Resource Efficiency – Lovat Arms, Loch Ness, Fort Augustus.
• Gleaner Oil and Gas Award for Entrepreneurship – The Ice Factor, Kinlochleven, Lochaber.
• Highlands and Islands Enterprise for Excellence in Research and Innovation – DanMedical Ltd, Inverness.
• Royal Bank of Scotland for Excellence in International Business – Walkers Shortbread Ltd, Aberlour on Spey, Moray.
• Scottish Water Award for Excellence in Environmental Sustainability – Skye & Lochalsh Food Link, Dunvegan, Isle of Skye.
• SCDI Award for Highlands and Islands Young Engineers Club of the Year – Westray Junior High School, Orkney.