Richmond based Chartered Surveyors Conrad Merrin have been shortlisted for the Best New Start Up category in the Richmond Business Awards.

Business Secretary Vince Cable and Richmond Park MP Zac Goldsmith will present awards to the winning companies at a ceremony to be held in the Lensbury Club on Thursday, 20 October 2011.

Chartered Surveyor and founder of Conrad Merrin Paul Beningfield said “we are delighted to be shortlisted for the Best Start up Award; it makes all of the hard work and effort over the last 18 months worthwhile”.

This is a real success story for a small start up businesses and especially for Paul, who was made redundant two years ago at the height of the 2009 recession, Paul recalls “it wasn’t a good time to be in the construction sector, budgets were being cut, and there were redundancies everywhere. Construction is usually one of the first sectors to be hit when there is an economic down turn, but this was particularly bad”.

Paul found himself unemployed and with mounting debts. After three months of unemployment Paul went on a Government funded training course which helped him decide to start up his own company. The company is now established and growing steadily.

We asked Paul why he thought Conrad Merrin has been so successful “The number one priority is to look after your...