GGR Group receives Queen’s Award

UK-based lifting company GGR Group has received a Queen’s Award for Enterprise.

The company is one of a select few in the UK to have been singled out for the award in the International Trade category, the company said. The news comes on the same day Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II celebrates her 90th birthday.

GGR was established in 1995 by siblings Graeme and Gill Riley, chief executive and managing director, respectively. More than 100 people are employed across three UK sites; the headquarters in Oldham, Lancashire; Long Crendon in Buckinghamshire and at Blantyre in Scotland.

The company's cranes have been used on many projects, including The Shard in London, Heathrow Terminal 5 and the Scottish Parliament building at Holyrood.

The Queen’s Award recognises GGR’s successful business model of working with suppliers in Japan and the company’s network of dealers in Europe and the Middle East to develop a range of lifting solutions, GGR explained.

Graeme Riley said, “This is great news for everyone at GGR Group. We have played an instrumental role in the co-development of our products alongside our supplier and dealer network. As the construction industry has developed, we have consistently engaged in new product development activity, in order to stay ahead in an increasingly competitive area of the market. Our mantra has, and always will be, ‘Innovation Not Imitation’.”

Last year, Gill Riley was made an OBE for services to construction. Riley said, “We are delighted to have won this prestigious Queen’s Award, which underlines just how far we have come as a company. Not only have we provided innovative solutions for our customers, we have achieved steady growth in recent years.

“However, we have never rested on our laurels, and are not going to start now. We have ambitions to grow internationally, especially in new and emerging markets, and will be working hard to achieve them.”

GGR Group representatives will be invited to attend a winners’ reception at Buckingham Palace in London later in 2016.