Morgan Tipped As Future Star After Plant Industry Awards Success
A young County Durham plant mechanic has been picked out as a future star of his industry in a national awards initiative.
Morgan Wardle was named as the winner of the Plant Mechanic of the Year – North category at the 2023 Stars of the Future Awards, which are organised by the Construction Plant-hire Association (CPA) and were held in front of an audience of 350 people at the Heart of England Conference and Events Centre near Coventry.
The annual awards are designed to identify and celebrate the most promising apprentices and trainees in the construction plant sector and attracted entries from right across the UK.
Morgan, who is from Lanchester, works as an apprentice workshop mechanic at the Thrislington depot of Banks Plant Solutions, the plant maintenance and management arm of Northeast employer The Banks Group.
He joined the family firm in April 2019 and works on the management and maintenance of a range of different vehicles and machinery of up to 300 tonnes in size.
Alongside his day job, Morgan is currently studying at Askham Bryan College in York as part of his ongoing professional development and was nominated for the award by his course tutor Christopher Suttill.
Banks Plant Solutions maintains, services, repairs, and manages compliance control of machinery from a wide range of industry-leading manufacturers, and works on equipment ranging from small ancillary vehicles up to 500 tonne hydraulic excavators.
The business was set up by the Banks Group in 2019 to build on more than four decades’ experience of owning, maintaining, and managing a diverse fleet of heavy plant, construction and ancillary equipment.
Banks Plant Solutions works with a range of clients in the construction, civil engineering, earthwork, quarrying, demolition, waste and recycling sectors, and is active across the Northeast, North West and Yorkshire.
Morgan Wardle says: “Winning this award and being recognised in the industry as one of the rising stars is amazing.
“I’ve worked so hard over the last two years, and winning this award makes me feel very proud of my achievements so far.”
Martin Raine, Service Manager at Banks Plant Solutions, adds: “As well as being a fantastic plant engineer Morgan is a very popular member of the team. He is patient, willing to help others and always goes the extra mile.
“Morgan has a great future ahead of him and I’m confident he will continue on this path to become one of the industry’s leading engineers with Banks Plant Solutions.”
