A PR firm staffed by former journalists – including the Gazette’s one-time food editor – was one of two Islington businesses to scoop a prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise on Saturday.

SE10 counts Daisy Jestico among its staff. Daisy worked for the Gazette and its sister paper the Hornsey Journal (sadly now defunct) in 2012.

Facit Homes, headquartered down the road on Godson Street has scooped the same award for its innovative approach to producing homes with the latest technology.

A select group of businesses receive the honour each year on the Queen’s birthday – she turned 92 on Saturday.

Awards are decided by the Queen on advice from the Prime Minister and recognise outstanding achievements in business. The winners will be invited to Buckingham Palace.

Facit, which demolishes homes and rebuilds them from scratch, has been recognised in the innovation category.

Its founder Bruce Bell said he had been frustrated by the inconsistency and inefficiency of more conventional house building.

Instead, it makes greater use of digital technology to model homes before they’re built.

Bruce said: “Our innovation lies in the harnessing of technology to produce homes in a similar way to a product like a car or mobile phone – with certainties around quality and cost and no mistakes or misinterpretations of design.”

Facit Homes has even featured on Channel Four show Grand Designs after rebuilding a family home in Highgate to double its internal space.

SE10 has been recognised for enterprise in international trade.

The company was founded in 2002 and works with clients in the industrial and manufacturing sectors such as Volvo and Rolls Royce – a previous winner of the same award.

“The award recognises our contribution to the country and a lay of respectability you can’t get anywhere else,” said SE10 partner Brian O’Sullivan.

He added: “Considering this company started very small with just two guys in lock up garages in Kent, we’ve now got a beautiful office in Angel Islington.

“That was one of the best things we ever did and has propelled us to winning this award.

“There’s a direct correlation between us moving to Islington and increasing sales and winning this award.”