THEATRICAL architects Stage One have been presented with a Queen’s Award for Enterprise.

The Tockwith business produced the famous cauldron for last year’s London Olympic Games and opening ceremony, as well as the Olympic rings which hung from Tower Bridge.

Yesterday, the firm and its workforce of more than 90 craftsmen, designers, engineers, technologists and artists, were visited by the Lord Lieutenant of North Yorkshire, Lord Crathorne, to be presented with one of only 27 awards given out nationwide for Innovation.

Literature about this year’s award winners states: “Innovation is inherent in virtually every project that State One delivers. Working within the events, theatre and architecture industries, the company’s unique strength is their ingenuity – finding ways to realise creative visions of their clients, no matter how extreme.”

Judges were impressed with the “quantum leap” Stage One has made in the last decade in their capabilities to bring clients’ ideas to life.

Mark Johnson, Stage One’s managing director, said: “It makes us feel like a bonafide big player in our field to have this award.

“In the last ten years we have invested heavily in 3D computer aided design systems and machines to help produce more and more complex and difficult projects.

“Up to now everything has been about creating the intellectual property of the business and going forward we now have to build on that.”

The business began as a traditional staging and scenery building company, and has grown to include corporate clients including Coca Cola, BP, British Airways and Dreamworks.

As well the Olympic cauldron, Stage One also designed and manufactured work for the Athens 2004 Olympic ceremonies, the London production of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert, Cirque du Soleil’s touring show Zarkana, and touring arena shows such as Walking With Dinosaurs.

The firm is working on a major project for next year’s Winter Olympics in Sochi.