North Sands businesses celebrate award success

Success is in the air at our North Sands Business Centre in Sunderland, as two of our customers have begun 2016 fresh from award wins.

Pebbletree, which provides businesses with telecommunications, business services and contact centre management, was named Employer of the Year in the Sunderland Echo Portfolio Business Awards 2015.

While MyCare Services, which provides care to people in their own homes, won two awards at the Great British Care Awards. The company, which has 30 carers, won both Northern Care Employer of the Year and Regional Care Innovator of the Year at the regional awards in Gateshead.

Employer of the Year win

For Pebbletree, scooping the Employer of the Year award was the perfect end to 2015 – the year the business celebrated its 10th anniversary. The firm, which employs 26 people, had already received a national award from the Internet Telephony Services Providers Association (ITSPA) in March when its brand Soho66 won Best Business ITSP Medium Enterprise.

The Sunderland Echo’s judging panel looked at what Pebbletree was like for its employees to work for. The company prides itself on having a fun working environment and staff can help themselves to free refreshments and snacks from the company fridge throughout the working day.

Janni Thornton, Pebbletree’s Co-founder and Managing Director, says:

We are a family-run business and we don’t want our staff to feel that they are just a number on a payroll. We want them to feel they have made a difference.

Pebbletree works with around 40,000 businesses in the UK and beyond and aims to provide them with reliable and easy-to-use services. Founded in October 2005, it moved into our North Sands centre in 2010, renting one large open-plan office. Since then, the company has gone from strength to strength and by 2014, it had expanded so much it had to move into a larger section of the business centre, which is located in a former ship yard near the National Glass Centre.

Towards the end of last year, Pebbletree needed to expand further and has taken one of the largest offices at North Sands on the second floor. This is in addition to its existing accommodation, which takes up almost a quarter of the centre’s ground floor.

Bizspace’s flexibility has allowed Pebbletree to adapt its business accommodation to meet its changing needs.

The company trades under a portfolio of several brands – Soho66, which provides VoIP and online faxing solutions, Quvu, a cloud-based contact centre management solution, Usomo, a business telecoms system, and Simply66, an in-house call answering and virtual receptionist service.

Awards haul for MyCare Services

Meanwhile, MyCare Services also ended 2015 on a high with its two victories at the Great British Care Awards’ regional ceremony. As well as winning Northern Care Employer of the Year and Regional Care Innovator of the Year, four members of the team were nominated for awards:

• George Howe was nominated for the Care Worker Award
• Susan Dobson was in the running for the Activities Co-ordinator Award
• Lynne Davison was short-listed for the Home Care Co-ordinator
• Amanda Purvis was nominated for the Home Care Registered Manager award

Lynne Oliver, Business Centre Manager at North Sands commented: “Congratulations to both MyCare Services and Pebbletree!  We’re always delighted to hear about our customers’ success and to help them share their good news. There’s a great community atmosphere at North Sands and it makes everyone happy to hear about businesses here doing so well.”

Convenient location

North Sands Business Centre is close to Sunderland town centre, as well as to the sea, and its historic shipyard surroundings are reflected in the design of the centre, with its glass front entrance shaped to look like the bow of a ship. The centre offers a good selection of offices to rent in Sunderland for between two and 25 people, while our numerous meeting rooms can accommodate 12 to 40 people.  Free parking is available at the site and a café within the centre offers convenient refreshments.

For further details contact Business Centre Manager Lynne Oliver on 0191 597 4655.