..and I am too. Martin Ashiedu was awarded Best Engineer of the Year Award at this year's Building Controls Industry Awards. The award which was presented at the BCIA Conference and Awards Evening Awarded to the individual who best demonstrates the achievement of ‘engineering excellence’ within the building controls industry.

Advantex have organised a long list of major IP solutions vendors to take part in an exhibition in the North East - IP World. It's refreshing to see an IT event that's taking place in the North East. With most events taking place in the south I hope many of the region's businesses will take time out to support the event. Event details can be found at http://www.ip-world.co.uk.

Being shortlisted for four out of four categories in the national Building Controls Industry Awards is exceptional for Astral Control Services. I'm so pleased to have helped by putting the entries together and excited to hear the final results which will be announced in May.

I've been recently working on a project with the team at Bastion and PhotoLine to produce marketing materials and exhibition graphics for the new Modular Walling System BastionWALLTM. The product is taking centre stage at two major security events for Bastion this month.

Bastion needed a new product brochure which simplified the product set and ensured its applications were easily understood.

Starting with a blank sheet of paper is always the tricky part. In producing the copy I developed core messages to reflect competitive positioning and promote the product's f&b's. Co-ordinating the production I worked with the design team at PhotoLine (who were extremely helpful and flexible) we worked the weekend and at night to make sure the brochure was completed on time for the events.

By developing an isometric model and placing the products in their normal surrounds it's immediately apparent how the products can be used.