A woman who has risen to the top of the traditionally male-dominated construction industry was named Veuve Clicquot businesswoman of the year yesterday.

Dawn Gibbins, who founded Flowcrete, the Cheshire-based specialist flooring manufacturer, with her father in 1982, has helped to establish the company as the European market leader and number two in the world, with an annual turnover of £25m.

She said “I’m absolutely thrilled. This is fantastic news and a tremendous honour. I am especially delighted to have been recognised in the male world of construction. I’m glad Flowcrete’s contribution to industry has been recognised in such a high-profile way”.

Her achievements include working on the introduction of self-levelling floors that can be laid 40 times faster than normal floors, as well as an anti-microbial “bug-killing” floor for use in the food and pharmaceutical industries.

Ms Gibbins, 44, whose husband Mark Greaves is managing director of the company, has also acquired a reputation for team building and staff leadership; In 1994 she received an MBE for service to industry – becoming at the time the youngest industrialist to have been honoured in that way.

John West, managing director of Veuve Clicquot said “The panel….. felt that Dawn had been highly innovative in her creation of a world-beating business in an unglamorous sector. Her success and her style would be inspirational for others who choose the entrepreneurial path”.

The Veuve Clicquot award, in its 30th year, is regarded as one of the most prestigious in UK business.

Previous winners include Anita Roddick, founder of the Body Shop and Dame Marjorie Scardino, Chief Executive of Pearson, which owns the FT.