Member Article

Building firm invest £100,000 and create 40 jobs

A North East building services company is investing £100,000 in development and creating jobs after landing a significant piece of funding.

Hartlepool’s Brickwork Services Ltd has received a £50,000 unsecured loan from UK Steel Enterprise.

The firm has already provided work for more than 170 skilled bricklayers, and has worked for clients such as Yuill Homes, Taylor Wimpey, Miller Homes, Keepmoat and the Esh Group.

Brickwork Services was started by Steve Willis in 2004, using the skills and experience he had gathered from 30 years in the industry.

Steve said: “I am very grateful to UK Steel Enterprise for committing to an investment that is really important for the next stage of our development.

“It was proving impossible to get the finance we needed from other sources – no-one was interested because we are involved in the construction sector, despite our healthy order book.

“Industry professionals are now confirming my belief that the sector is showing definite signs of improvement and we are actively recruiting to find the additional teams of skilled bricklayers that we need to meet demand.

“With this latest investment and our management team of 14 now based in UK Steel Enterprise’s Innovation Centre in Hartlepool, the company is in a very good place to take immediate advantage of the up-turn.”

Simon Hamilton, regional manager for UK Steel Enterprise, said: “Our bottom line is about helping to regenerate and create jobs in traditional steel areas so we have more flexibility than other lenders.

“Brickwork Services has a strong order book, highly professional management team and a reputation that has enabled them to grow well despite the recent difficulties in the sector.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .