QUEEN’S AWARD FOR PLAYTOP

From its base in Newark, Nottinghamshire, Playtop has established a worldwide network of licencees for its impact-absorbing play surfacing. The result has been an increase in export sales of over 150% during the past three years.

It now has licensees in over twenty countries, from Europe to Japan, with a further five planned for the next few months.

Over a million square metres of Playtop^® have now been laid on playgrounds around the world in such prestigious sites as the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, Euro Disney in France, the Emperor’s Gardens in Tokyo and Old Trafford Stadium in Manchester.

Nigel Allen, managing director of Playtop said: “We are over the moon about receiving this Award. We believe we are the first company in the playground industry to receive a Queen’s Award.

“It is a testimony to the hard work and dedication of all our employees and licensees. In particular, I’d like to praise Barry Baker, our international business development manager, who has spent the past five years developing our licensee network.”

A condition of the Award being given by the Queen’s Award offices at Buckingham Palace is that it can not be announced until 21 April. “It has been very hard to keep the news a secret,” added Mr Allen: “We were told about it three weeks ago but were unable to tell anybody else until today.”

There are three categories of awards: sustainable development, innovation and international trade, for which Playtop collected an award.

As part of the Charles Lawrence Group, the first Playtop^® surface was laid in 1977 and is still in use today. Playtop has since grown to become the UK’s leading supplier and installer of impact-absorbing surfacing.

The environment also benefits with Playtop surfacing as it is made from recycled commercial vehicle tyres. A sister company, Charles Lawrence International, recycles over 350,000 truck tyres a year to create the rubber granules used in impact-absorbing surfacing.

Last year Playtop also became a worldwide partner of Nike, the global sports company, introducing Nike Grind into Playtop^® surfacing. Nike Grind rubber is the material created when old trainers/sports shoes are recycled and granulated, the end result of Nike’s Reuse-A-Shoe programme.

This initiative is part of Nike’s commitment to corporate responsibility and involves the collection of old sports shoes (of any brand) from collection points across the UK. These shoes are then recycled to create a rubber granulate called Nike Grind, which Playtop incorporates into its playground surfacing.

Playtop will receive its Award at a special reception with the Queen in the near future.