Mr Noonan yesterday said winning Friday night's Gold Rhino as Dubbo's most outstanding business in 2004 had come as a very pleasant surprise.

"It was a bit of a shock for me - I didn't expect we'd win it," he said.

"I always think high-profile retail businesses are in with a better chance, so for us to win it as consulting engineers, I'm pretty chuffed.

"It was very exciting to have the local business leaders you look up to come up and congratulate us - it was a great feeling and it's only starting to sink in."

Continued expansion and further investment into the regional areas which sustain their business would be Barnson's future priorities, Mr Noonan said.

"We have a five-year plan for our future - we've grown as big as the Dubbo marketplace will allow so the way ahead will be expansion into other regional areas," he said.

"Our new offices in Bathurst and Parkes are good examples - the bigger consulting firms are targeting capital cities so there's a lot of opportunity in regional areas.

"We've got a great team at the moment so we've been very lucky but we realise that we have to re-invest into the regional areas we operate in to grow.

"It's hard to find degree-qualified people so it's better to get local people out of school, put them through uni and hopefully they'll stay with us for the longer term."

As for the night itself, Rhino Awards organising committee chair Jessica Brown said it had been hailed a smashing success.

"The entertainment and catering were fantastic - everyone really enjoyed themselves and we've had comments it was the best Rhinos yet," she said. "We had about 650 guests and everyone was in a mood to celebrate - we finished up at 1am and a lot of people stayed to the end."