A SOMERCOTES firm has beaten off competition from thousands of companies to land its own "gold medal" from the Olympic Delivery Authority.

Evans Concrete Products has helped build the Olympic Park, ahead of the London 2012 Games, by completing 30 orders.

It has provided all 13 access bridges serving the 2.5 sq km site, in Stratford, as well as staircases and seats at the park's state-of-the-art arenas.

The company has also supplied the park with one of the largest water features in the world, weighing 300 tonnes, as well as manufacturing stair treads at stations along the Docklands Light Railway, which will be serving the Olympic Park.

The firm was visited by John Armitt, chairman of the Olympic Delivery Authority, in April 2010. He came away praising the quality of the company's work.

A month later, the authority, which is responsible for building London 2012's venues, handed Evans Concrete Product its supervisors' quality excellence award.

Garry McBride, chairman of Evans Concrete Products, said he was not allowed to reveal the news until now.

He told the Derby Telegraph: "I was called down to Stratford for a meeting and the ODA presented me with the award in front of all these company directors.

"It was wonderful – I knew nothing about it. I think it was one of the proudest days of my life."

Mr McBride said the Olympic Games has been worth in excess of £5 million to his company, allowing him to bolster his workforce from 35 to 70 staff.

He said the Quality Excellence Award was his company's own "gold medal".

"There were literally thousands of companies of all disciplines that were in the frame but little Evans Concrete, in a hidden-away part of Derbyshire, won it.

"We have run our race at the Olympic Games, we came first and got a gold medal. It's fantastic recognition for the contribution we've made. It will stick with me forever."

Mr McBride said it was not just the quality of its concrete units that had impressed the Olympic Delivery Authority.

He said: "We have gone the extra mile. We helped them with design, used innovative production methods and have used recycled concrete.

"It wasn't just about the product. We considered green issues, which was important to the ODA because of its environmental commitments.

"One example is we saved 400 lorry movements by transporting our products by freight train."

After his visit to Evans Concrete Products, Mr Armitt said he was "extremely impressed" with what he had seen. He said: "The quality of the concrete units speaks for themselves. It's so important that we get the Olympic Park right and it's good to come and see the work being done by Evans Concrete. They're doing the work brilliantly.

"One of the good things about the Olympics is that it has provided work for businesses such as Evans Concrete at what are difficult economic times."

The Olympic Park has now been handed over to London 2012 organisers Locog to prepare for the Games to start on July 27.