Knutsford engineers Oliver Valvetek win a King's Award for Innovation

Knutsford has a new royal honour to celebrate. Oliver Valvetek, a subsea valve specialist based in the town, is among the Cheshire businesses to receive a King's Award for Enterprise in 2026, winning in the Innovation category.

The Cheshire Lieutenancy lists Oliver Valvetek alongside six other 2026 recipients from the county, based in Daresbury, Runcorn, Alderley Edge, Adlington, Winsford and Warrington. It is a strong showing for Cheshire.

The award recognises a new face seal arrangement for the company's subsea gate valves. Developed entirely in-house by its UK-based research and development team, the design replaces a conventional spring-energised lip seal with a simpler, one-piece PEEK polymer seal.

The idea behind it is neat. Unlike traditional sealing arrangements, the face seal uses system pressure to strengthen the sealing effect, so as operating pressure rises the seal becomes more effective. It has been qualified for working pressures from 5,000 psi to 20,000 psi and for simulated water depths of up to 4,000 metres. The company says the work has also strengthened its in-house manufacturing, improved quality control, simplified assembly and reduced its reliance on outside suppliers.

The award is a milestone for the business. It is Oliver Valvetek's third Royal Award and the fourth across the Oliver family of companies, following a King's Award for Enterprise in International Trade won by sister company Oliver Valves Ltd in 2025.

The recognition also brought a memorable day out. Engineering Director Nick Howard, who played a key role in the development, attended a special reception at St James's Palace this summer, where he met His Majesty The King. "Meeting His Majesty The King at St James's Palace was a tremendous honour and a very proud moment, not just for me personally, but for everyone involved in this achievement," he said.

Oliver Valvetek has supplied engineered-to-order gate valves, ball valves, needle valves and instrumentation products for subsea completions since 1994. The family-owned group works from four purpose-built facilities in Knutsford, and its products are shipped to around 50 countries.

Stories like this are a reminder that Cheshire's success is not only found on its high streets and in its restaurants. For Knutsford, it is a chance to take pride in a homegrown business whose ideas are now at work thousands of metres beneath the sea.