POWER Sheds picked up the SME Business of the Year prize at the Bradford Means Business Awards, and were keen to stress the importance of supporting the local economy.

At the ceremony, co-founder Simon Hobson said: “It’s fantastic that we’ve won this award.

“We’re quite forward thinking and we also employ a lot of people from the local area.

“We want to ensure they have progression in their role – we don’t want to employ people and they just turn up for 40 hours a week, we also want them to progress.

“That’s what we’ve been doing for the last three-and-a-half years.”

Simon added that the business’ location allows it to really give back to the local area.

“We’re based at the Euroway Trading Estate – we have places like Bradford, Leeds, Huddersfield and Brighouse all within 15 minutes, so we can really pull people in from all of those areas,” he said.

“We help skilled people who have been out of work and upskill them to be whoever they want to be – they can decide their own future.”

Power Sheds is aiming to transform the shed industry and expand across the world.

Co-founder Jack Sutcliffe has plans to take the business, which was founded in 2019, across the Atlantic.

Speaking after being nominated, he said: “We want to send sheds abroad, to America, and to Europe too.

“The shed industry is unbranded, so no one really knows any names. So we want to make an unbranded market branded.”

Other nominees in this category were Pickard Hardware, which celebrated its 40th anniversary this year.

Managing director Dale Spencer said that being nominated for SME of the Year was particularly poignant, given that company founder John Pickard passed away this year.

“He passed away in April, it was a very sad time and quite a shock,” he said after being nominated.

“John worked seven days a week for 40 years and he worked right up until the end.”

Hope Park Workspaces was also in the running.

The head of its business department, Daniel Bullen, said earlier: “We are passionate about helping businesses grow by providing exclusive office spaces with on-site support, to ensure business both large and small can thrive.”