B&C Awards 2015: The winners' reactions

After last Thursday’s Bridging & Commercial Award winners were announced, the successful few have spoken of their delight at winning the key industry award…

B&C announced the 18 award winners at the prestigious Hurlingham Club in Chelsea, London, in front of over 600 guests. 

The winners, who were selected by two judging panels, spoke to B&C about the prestige these awards bring to their business and what it meant to them to win a B&C Award. 

Medianett CEO Mo Mulki address the packed crowd

Winner of the ‘Bridging Lender of the Year’ award, Amicus were delighted and Managing Director Keith Aldridge said to go from ‘Best Newcomer’ in 2013 to ‘Bridging Lender of the Year’ in just two years was an outstanding achievement. 

“We have had a great year and the re-brand has brought rich rewards but with the quality of the lenders on the shortlist, we are thrilled to achieve such an accolade,” said Keith. 

“Everyone at Amicus is delighted that our hard work is appreciated by so many in the short term lending sector.”

Amicus' Keith Aldridge recieving the award

Looking to follow in the footsteps of Amicus was this year’s ‘Best Newcomer’ winner, Adapt Finance, which became the first broker to win the award.

Stephen Burns of Adapt said he and the team were very humbled to achieve the support and recommendation from the people within the industry it regards so highly.

“To be making records – first broker ever to reach the shortlist in best newcomer, never mind win, – wow!” said Stephen. 

“The B&C awards are the biggest event on the STL annual calendar however everyone should remember, although it goes and comes within a day, the effort prior and feedback thereafter goes to show the immense time, effort and planning which goes into such a thing and the organisers should be as proud as each and every winner.”

Also delighted to receive the ‘Best Bridging Broker’ award were the team from SPF Short Term Finance who retained the title for a second consecutive year.

“It really is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the team and I am thrilled for them that this continues to get recognised by the specialist lending community,” said Alex King, Executive Director at SPF.

Another happy broker was Finance 4 Business who won the ‘Best Commercial Broker’ award with Director Russell Martin calling the event the ‘most prestigious’ awards in the industry.

“Featuring on the panel that judges lenders, I know the level of debate that is involved in each and every category and this just adds more weight to the award,” explained Russell. 

“It was also pleasing to be Highly Commended in the ‘Best Development Broker’ category - hopefully we’ll go one step further next year.”

Russell Martin picks up Finance 4 Business' award

Meanwhile ‘Best Specialist Distributor’ winner, Brightstar, was also pleased to have retained its title for another year.

“It’s certainly a true statement to say that every year our competition gets better and more determined so awards like this remain a great gauge on where we are positioned in the market,” said CEO Rob Jupp. 

“I thought the day was a triumph for all concerned and many congratulations to all those businesses and individuals that won or achieved a highly commended status.” 

Rob Jupp and the Brightstar team delighted with its award

 Precise Mortgages had a lot to celebrate as they went home with the Regulated Lender of the Year and Marketing Campaign of the Year awards and Director of Sales, Roger Morris, was also named Personality of the Year.

Roger Morris recieves his award

"My awards was a statement to the power of friendship and as I said at the awards, my gratitude to Alan the most for allowing me to be me. Its not often a normal person gets such an awards, its the testimony to brokers who really admire that we do for them day in and day out. I feel and still do very humble," said Roger.

"As for Roselle. I cannot speak for her but I can say what I think about her. In life you meet gifted individuals who do so much with such little resource. What we have created and the brand she has established is truly amazing. Its only when you work along side her that you can truly appreciate how gifted and focused she really is.

"As for the Best Regulated Lender. That is a testimony to Alan Cleary himself. His vision right from the start in 2010 when he decided to go into Bridging. How since we have launched, we grown and defined an industry standard and one we have improved on year after year."

Another winner of an individual award was Dragonfly's D'mitri Zaprzala who was named BDM of the year.

D'mitri recieves his award from fellow winners Adapt

“I’m thrilled to win such a prestigious award, all the more so given the tough competition in this category," said D'mirtri.

"It goes without saying that I would never have won this award without the support of everybody at Dragonfly, the fantastic products that I am able to offer, and the high service levels we consistently provide as a team. This may be an award for me, but it was very much a group effort and I accept it on behalf of the company as a whole.

Shawbrook Bank won its third consecutive ‘Commercial Lender of the Year’ award and was proud of the consistency it represents. 

“We at Shawbrook have a permanent focus on improving our offering to support the broker community and providing a framework for positive customer outcomes,” said Karen Bennett, Sales & Marketing Director of Commercial Mortgages.  

“This recent award is a testament to that hard work. The strong relationships we have with brokers are built on trust and transparency and we extend our sincerest thanks for this recognition of our efforts.”

“We have several initiatives planned for the remainder of the year and look forward to working in partnership with our brokers to bring these to fruition.”

Noel Meredith, Executive Director at United Trust Bank, was thrilled to win ‘Development Lender of the Year’ and said: “This award is recognition for all the hard work put in by our business developers, case managers and the rest of the team to ensure that brokers and customers receive an unrivalled level of service.

“Our focus on service and a desire to make deals happen is behind the significant growth in our loan book and the strong relationships we have with brokers and their clients.  

“It is great to receive this award and have our commitment to brokers and developers recognised!” concluded Noel.

‘Best Development Broker’ went to Enness Private Clients which commented: “We have only just recovered from the Bridging & Commercial Awards held on Thursday last week when our brilliant commercial department won the accredited and most deserved award.

“Chris Whitney is hugely respected in his field and particularly brilliant with development finance.” 

B&C would like to congratulate all the award winners and the full list can be seen here.