A GROUND-breaking boiler house control system invented by a Keighley engineering firm has gained the Queen's Award for Enterprise in Innovation.

Byworth Boilers has been recognised on The Queen's 90th birthday for its Unity system, the first product of its kind on the market to control and manage a boiler house without relying on third-party systems.

Adrian Rhodes, Byworth Boilers technical director, said: "We are delighted to receive the prestigious award in recognition of Unity. It is always a risk to introduce new technology into a traditional industry, but the award proves that the hard work has paid off."

Byworth first had the idea for the system in 2007 but existing controls manufacturers declined to take it on. Eventually, the company appointed its own team which developed Unity over two years .

Unity is recognised as creating a more efficient and configurable boiler house. Data enables site managers and operators to react quickly to conditions, reducing the number of start-stop cycles and fuel and water usage.

Byworth, which has 101 employees, has been manufacturing industrial boilers since 1968.

Its founder Dennis Baldwin had become so frustrated with the limited functionality and features of boilers on the market at the time, he decided to create his own.

The firm's biggest customer base is the food and drinks market.

It supplies boilers to companies ranging from Yorkshire Provender – a family firm producing soups – and Keighley's Timothy Taylor brewery to global organisations such as drinks giant Diageo, whose brands include Johnnie Walker and Smirnoff.

Royal recognition for Unity follows Byworth winning the Lord Derek Ezra Award from the Combustion Engineering Association for its achievement in areas of higher efficiency, safety and lower emissions in industrial combustion.

Medical products company Xiros Ltd , based near Leeds Bradford Airport, has won a Queen's Award for International Trade .

The firm has boosted turnover and profitability by focusing on international markets and exports more than 95 per cent of its products. It has boosted overseas sales by 44 per cent from £4.8 million to £9.4 million over the past three years.

Xiros was founded in 1982 by chairman Dr Bahaa Seedhom. It specialises in the design, development and manufacture of minimally invasive textile-based medical implants and tissue sparing surgical procedures for sports medicine and orthopaedics.

Home Instead Senior Care, a UK franchise business with an office in Ilkley, has also won an Innovation award for introducing a new privately-funded social care model providing home carer visits to elderly people of at least an hour.