SEVEN North Yorkshire-based construction companies have achieved the prestigious Investors in People (IiP) standard and been awarded £5,000 each thanks to CITB-Construction Skills and its Blueprint For Building Performance programme.

The companies were presented with an IiP plaque by Paula Smith, of Shepherd Construction, at an award ceremony at Hazlewood Castle, near Tadcaster. They included Simon Gibbons, joint managing director of Derwent Vale group of companies, from Malton, who started the Blueprint programme in 2004; Suzanne Beaumont, of HW Cowling, in Raskelf, near York, which recently set up as a limited company; Julian Graves, from Graves Construction, near Wigginton, York.

Updated: 11:00 Friday, March 03, 2006