A Coalville-based start-up flooring firm that created a world-first eco product has won so many awards that it may be the most successful company in the Midlands.  

Abacus Flooring Solutions has racked up eight international and regional industry awards this year, adding to another eight picked up since it launched three years ago.

The Abacus count in 2023 includes a global bronze award at the Green World Awards in Miami, where the Stenson Road-based firm pipped 500 international nominees to the post.

This year, Abacus founder Nick Megson and his team have also won two prized FeRFA (the resin flooring association) awards, another brace at the Leicestershire Live Business Awards, best start-up firm in the East Midlands Business Masters Awards and both innovation and environmental impact plaudits at the East Midlands Chamber Business Awards.  

The roll of honour potentially places them as the Midlands business to receive the most accolades this year.

Most of the awards relate to the firm's environmentally ground-breaking Abaplas resin flooring system, where Nick became the first person in the world to develop a process that uses 100 per cent recycled waste plastic as a bulking agent instead of the traditional silica sand

Silica sand is a mined material that requires a lot of energy to extract and is also dangerous to human health when inhaled. Abaplas prevents potentially tonnes of waste plastic going to landfill – or into the world's oceans. 

Abacus Flooring Solutions MD Nick Megson

"I knew that by providing an eco-friendly method for replacing harmful bulking materials that we were on to a winner, both as a firm and for the environment," said Nick. 

"Plus, the product performs even better than traditional resin flooring. We carried out so many tests using numerous grades and types of plastic before we finally achieved the fantastic result we have today. 

"At the time, it seemed as if it would never happen. But now we have all these awards to show for it, which we are extremely proud of, not least because our efforts have been acknowledged across the world." 

Nick drew on more than 30 years of experience within the resin flooring installation industry to create the bespoke products behind his firm's success.  

Founding the firm just three years ago, he said he had complete faith in its potential from the start. So much so, that in 2020, alongside his wife Amanda, the couple sold their home in Yorkshire and most of their possessions to fund the new business. They then set off down the M1 to Leicestershire to start their company. 

The company now turns over more than £1million per year and manages an ever-expanding order book at its manufacturing headquarters in Coalville.

The company's awards on show

As 2023 comes to a close, the firm is now looking to the future again and has recruited its own brand ambassador, Sanjib Sahota. 

Sanjib said: "It is easy to see how Nick and the team have won so many awards – they're doing something nobody else is." 

Sanjib is now dedicating his time to raising the profile of both Abacus and Nick's spin-off company Abaplas Recycling Limited. The brand marketing expert, who spent four and a half years working for East Midlands Chamber, and who has represented big names such as Sony Pictures, said: "Nick's products are innovative and creative, sustainable and environmentally sound. What makes them special is he's ahead of the game."

Having used the product on massive projects, such as a £15m refit for Doncaster-based firm Polypipe, and high-profile venues including Wembley Stadium and JCB's UK headquarters, Nick added: "It has been a tremendous year for us. I'm so proud. 

"We, as a team, have worked so hard and it is extremely satisfying to be recognised by so many organisations. Of course, the real win is that by re-using plastic, we are able to save thousands of tonnes of plastic from going to landfill – or worse."  

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