The Lord-Lieutenant hands ERG its King's Award for international trade at Slinfold on 12 October. The air pollution firm employs 159 and dates from 1978.
An engineering company based outside Slinfold will be handed its King’s Award for Enterprise in person on Monday 12 October. The Lord-Lieutenant of West Sussex, Lady Emma Barnard, is due at ERG (Air Pollution Control) Ltd’s headquarters on Five Oaks Road that afternoon to present the award in front of the company’s staff.
ERG designs and supplies air pollution and odour control systems, and won its award in the International Trade category. The winners were announced on 6 May; the presentation by the King’s representative in the county is the formal part that follows.
What happens on the day
According to ERG’s Group Marketing Manager, Chris Sears, who wrote to us on 29 September, Lady Emma will arrive at 2.30pm for a short introduction to the company and its work. She will then present the award to ERG “in front of employees at approximately 3.00pm”.
The presentation is at ERG’s own site, Bridge House, Five Oaks Road, Slinfold, RH13 0QW. It is a workplace ceremony for the firm’s staff rather than a public event.
Why ERG won
The company is one of 185 organisations in the country to receive a King’s Award for Enterprise in 2026, it says, and the award recognises its “outstanding achievement in International trade”. Winners may use the King’s Awards emblem for five years.
ERG says it employs 159 people. Its own account of the past year, published on the same page, lists:
- a £9 million odour control and gas cleaning project in Qatar, which it calls the largest contract in the company’s history;
- continued expansion in the Middle East, where its regional office employs around 30 engineers, according to the company;
- the acquisition of ERG Hygrade Industrial Plastics, to add fabrication and manufacturing capacity;
- a 228kW solar array installed at the West Sussex headquarters;
- more than 20 new employees across engineering, technical and support roles.
It builds wet scrubbing systems, odour control plants, thermal oxidisers and other equipment that cleans emissions from industrial processes. Ed Hooper, Group Sales and Technical Director, has said demand is strongest for wet scrubbing and thermal oxidation systems designed to meet tighter emissions rules.
Mr Sears said when the award was announced:
“Being selected for this award is recognition of the technical expertise, dedication and professionalism of the ERG team. It reflects not only the quality of the systems we deliver, but also our commitment to supporting customers, developing our people and helping industry meet increasingly demanding environmental standards.”
A Horsham firm since 1978
ERG was founded in 1978 as ERG Odour Purification Systems and took its present name in 1986. By its own history it spent more than 30 years at Foundry Lane in Horsham before moving to the Bridge House site in Slinfold, where it now shares a site with its plastic fabrication workshop.
What it means for you
For most residents, nothing changes on 12 October: the ceremony is for ERG’s staff, and there is no public access. What it does show is that one of the district’s larger manufacturing employers is growing, recruiting engineers and technical staff, and winning most of that growth abroad. Anyone interested in working there will find the company’s contact details on its website.
ERG says there will be photographs of the presentation and of Lady Emma with employees; we will add them to this story when we have them.
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