Special visit marks our
20th anniversary
A leading politician praised family-run Finley Structures as we celebrated our 20th anniversary .
Former Secretary of State and onetime Tory leadership candidate Esther McVey visited our factory in Newton Aycliffe , with local MP Paul Howell , to mark the milestone .
Ms McVey , currently the Conservative MP for Tatton and former Housing and Communities Secretary , said : “ Finley Structures couldn ’ t have the 20th anniversary celebration they would have liked , but it ’ s all about the people .
Finley Structures celebrated its 20th anniversary – left to right is the firm ’ s managing director Julie Raistrick , Paul Howell MP , John and Valeria Finley ( centre , back ), Esther McVey MP and director Gary Finley . ( Picture by Tom Banks )
“ You don ’ t have a great business without great people and the vision going forward .
“ Celebrating 20 years is fantastic . It shows the resilience of the founder , John Finley , who started out as a steel erector then he had the vision to start this business 20 years ago .
“ Now they ’ re creating jobs for their local community and providing work for future generations – it ’ s a fantastic story .”
The Conservative MP for Sedgefield Mr Howell added : “ Getting round our local companies and seeing what they ’ re doing is wonderful – these businesses are the lifeblood of our economy .
“ We ’ ve heard today about the Hitachi factory which Finley Structures helped construct , but there ’ s also other major projects like Milburngate in Durham and the new Durham County Council head office .
“ All of these big projects are coming out of Aycliffe Business Park , which is
Paul Howell MP and Finley Structures managing director Julie Raistrick survey some of the work going on at the Aycliffe factory . ( Picture by Tom Banks )
brilliant .”
The two politicians were given a brief tour of Finley Structures ’ vast site on Aycliffe Business Park , which was bustling with steelwork running through its factory floor .
Mr Howell added : “ We met some the staff , one of which has been with the company since it started 20 years ago , and many other long-serving employees , which shows to me the quality of a company .
“ They ’ re clearly doing the right thing and I applaud them for their anniversary .”
Finley Structures managing director
Esther McVey MP with Finley Structures ’ estimating manager Andrew Workman , one of the firm ’ s longestserving employees , during an event to celebrate its 20th anniversary . ( Picture by Tom Banks )
Julie Raistrick added : “ We ’ re naturally delighted to celebrate our 20th anniversary , it ’ s a milestone we ’ re all incredibly proud of .
“ We ’ ve invested heavily in our site , our people and state-of-the-art steel fabrication facilities over the years which saw us through the financial crisis , and we ’ re confident it will stand us in good stead during this current climate .
“ We ’ re grateful to Esther McVey and Paul Howell for coming to celebrate our birthday , which was all done socially distanced , of course – let ’ s hope we can celebrate our 25th anniversary in a bigger way .”
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