Serving the Teesside Business Community | 39
/ STOCKTON NEWS
Multi-million pound Stockton
housing scheme opened by mayor
T
he completion of a £30m town centre
housing development has been marked
with a special opening.
Stockton mayor Ian Dalgarno was the
special guest at the event to celebrate the
completion of Nursery Gardens, off Spring
Street in Stockton’s town centre.
The 110-home scheme is a partnership
between Stockton Council, Dunelm Homes
(Esh Group), the Homes and Communities
Agency and Tees Valley Housing, which is
part of the Thirteen Group.
Residents were invited to come along
to meet with representatives of the
organisations who worked on the project and
see a display showcasing the history of the
area.
Cllr Dalgarno said: “This area
has been truly transformed and
now offers a mix of good quality
homes, just a short distance from
the town centre. Nursery Gardens
is the first of our regeneration-led
schemes to formally complete and
it is an excellent example of what
can be achieved.”
Stockton Council’s cabinet
member for Environment and
Housing, Cllr Mike Smith, said:
“Creating clean, green and safe
communities across Stockton
Borough is at the heart of our regeneration
schemes. Nursery Gardens shows what we
are striving to achieve – different types of
homes suiting a range of budgets.”
Martin Hawthorne, director of
Development and Regeneration at
Thirteen Group, said: “This is an invaluable
regeneration scheme that has created a new
neighbourhood at the heart of Stockton-onTees.
“We are proud to be part of this project,
which demonstrates what can be achieved
through an effective partnership between
organisations that share the same goal
of creating new homes and improving
communities.”
ICONS INVEST
£120K
Record turnover as
workforce doubles
Precision plastic injection moulding firm
Icon Plastics has expanded its capabilities
by investing £120,000 in new machinery.
The latest investment by the ambitious
company has involved buying five machines
including the replacement of two older
presses.
Among the newly-installed devices
is one twin-shot machine that enables
components to be manufactured from
two different types of material or in two
different colours.
Icon Plastics has invested more than
£1m since it moved to new premises at
Durham Lane Industrial Park, Eaglescliffe,
in 2014.
It has customers in a range of sectors
including electronics, agricultural,
healthcare and medical, construction,
defence and automotive, and now has 22
moulding machines.
Building and construction firm RPD Builders has
cemented its future by doubling its workforce on
the back of achieving record turnover.
The Billingham-based firm, which operated
with just two members of staff during the
difficulties of the recession, now employs 12
people after welcoming six new recruits.
Jeremy Speke has joined as project manager
where he will oversee the company’s ongoing
construction jobs, with Alan Kernan and
Anth Hyndman both training to become site
supervisors through the National Safety Passport
Supervisor Course.
In addition, Katie Davison has been appointed
to the role of client liaison officer and Nathan
Tonks and James Dodsworth have been taken
on as electrician and bricklaying apprentices,
respectively.
The appointments follow RPD Builders hitting
the £1m turnover mark, which has been fuelled
by a number of significant contract wins.
WYNYARD FIRM’S SIXFIGURE WINDFALL
Wynyard-based review platform Smart
Money People has secured a six-figure
investment just nine months after launching.
Founded by Michael Fotis (pictured) in
2014, Smart Money People is the UK’s only
customer experience and review platform
focused on the financial services industry.
The fast-growing start-up has already
attracted a number of financial businesses
across the insurance, banking and alternative
finance sectors.
It has now secured financial backing
from Northstar Ventures and the
TwentyThreeMiles Fund.
Nortech expands
to Aberdeen
Wynyard-based professional engineering
design and project management company
Nortech Group has expanded its operations
with the opening of a new office in
Aberdeen.
With offices in North East England and
now North East Scotland, the award-winning
company will be able to better serve its client
bases in these two key industrial regions.
Based on Riverside Drive, Nortech will
continue to service its existing Aberdeenbased clients in the oil and gas sector while
also building its presence in the Granite City
in established and new markets.
From its Teesside base, the company
has successfully expanded its engineering
design, management consultancy and
staffing search and selection services beyond
the oil and gas sector.
TEES BUSINESS
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