Aycliffe Today Business Aycliffe Today Business issue 34 | Page 27

The magazine for Aycliffe Business Park | 27
Beaumont Grounds Maintenance managing
director Alexander Lineton (front right) and
maintenance manager Craig Taylor (front left)
with apprentices Bailey Howarth and Matthew
Dixon, and operatives Brian Denton, Ian Baul
and Adam Hanlon.
Family grounds maintenance firm is flying
as ex-RAF engineer among five new staff
A family-run grounds maintenance firm is flying high with five new members
of staff – including a former Royal Air Force engineer.
By Martin Walker
Craig Taylor, who spent his RAF days fixing
fighter jets, has joined Newton Aycliffe-based
Beaumont Grounds Maintenance as the
firm’s new head of maintenance.
The 32-year-old, originally from Aycliffe
but who now lives in Darlington, joins new
landscape operatives Brian Denton, Ian Baul
and Adam Hanlon as well as apprentices
Bailey Howarth and Matthew Dixon.
The five new recruits have boosted
Beaumont’s staff numbers to 17, but the
landscaping specialists expect that to
increase to 22 during the busy summer
months later this year.
Craig was a corporal and ground support
engineer during a decade with the RAF
which began with an apprenticeship after
leaving school.
He then spent six years in the oil and
gas industry, working offshore for a US oil
company, installing and maintaining drilling
and exploration equipment.
As Beaumont Grounds Maintenance
was increasing its fleet of vehicles and
machinery due to an increase in workload,
managing director Alxander Lineton turned
to his brother-in-law for help to bring the
maintenance side of the business in-house.
Lineton explained: “It’s always something
we’ve outsourced, but as our client base has
grown, our fleet of vehicles and machinery
has naturally grown to accommodate that so
it makes sense to bring it in-house.
“It’s now Craig’s job to keep all our
machinery moving. It will not only make the
business more efficient, it will also improve
the service we offer to our customers by
reducing the timescale of any vehicle and
equipment repairs.
“Craig not only fitted the bill in terms of his
vast knowledge and experience, but the fact
he’s my brother-in-law also ties in with the
family ethos we have here at Beaumont.”
Craig added: “My grounding with the
RAF was very much in vehicle maintenance,
which suits me perfectly in this new role.
“But over the years my roles have covered
quite a broad spectrum which has given me
lots of different skills, which Beaumont can
now hopefully benefit from.
“It’s an exciting time to join the company.
We’re continually expanding and upgrading
our fleet of vehicles, and keeping them
moving as quickly as possible is vital to the
business.”
Beaumont was established in 1965 by
Steven Lineton, who ran the business
alongside his garden centre based on
Beaumont Hill in Darlington. The company
relocated to larger premises on Aycliffe
Business Park in 1991 and has since pushed
more into the commercial maintenance
sector.
It’s now headed up by the third generation
of the Lineton family, with Alexander as
managing director and his sister Sophie as
accounts manager.
Beaumont now has a growing list of
160 contracted sites across the whole of
the North-East, down to the Yorkshire and
Humber areas and across to the Cumbria
region.
These include a range of public and private
sector contracts – various commercial
premises including factories, hotels
and premises run by national property
management companies – as well more than
50 schools around the North-East region.
Beaumont also looks after about 70%
of the land across the huge Aycliffe
Business Park, with its client list including
Gestamp Tallent, Hitachi Rail Europe,
Stiller Warehousing and Distribution, the
Xcel Centre, Vine Property Management,
3M, Roman, II-VI Incorporated (formerly
Compound Photonics) and Finley Structures.
You can find out more about Beaumont
Grounds Maintenance at www.
beaumontgroundsmaintenance.co.uk or
give them a call on 01325 301379.