The company, set up by brothers Nick and Darren Riggotts in 1994, is a market leader in line marking, grounds and facilities maintenance and general construction services for the retail, facilities management, architectural and logistics markets.

Having been quizzed by MORI researchers who report back to a judging panel of top industrialists, the pair will attend an awards ceremony at Belvoir Castle on March 2 nd when they will find out whether they have won a regional award. If successful, they will go onto the judging for the national award finals in June.

Nick Riggott explained: "We have had to demonstrate our strengths including how the business is run, our market position and what we put back into the local community.

"We started the company from scratch and now employ more than 50 people who work all over the country for Blue Chip customers on contracts from internal and external line markings to building maintenance.

"We are particularly leading the field in the line markings industry having recently developed a unique range of materials which are the most durable on the market and are attracting a great deal of interest from architects and product specifiers throughout the UK.

"From this position of strength, winning the regional award for our category and then going onto compete for the national Coutts Prize for Family Business would be a huge accolade for the company and the industry as a whole. We are keeping everything crossed!"