Hi-rise – a drone view of central Middlesbrough showing Harrison House near the centre of the picture .
HI-TEK
Firm ’ s new student block among tallest in town
M any will remember it for housing a popular Middlesbrough watering hole . But the site of Middlesbrough ’ s old Laurel pub – and , latterly , the Springfield Hotel – is now occupied by a 10-storey student accommodation block .
The impressive new building – one of the highest on Borough Road – is a striking symbol of how far the firm that constructed it , the TekGroup , has come in just four years .
And it ’ s all been coordinated from Tek ’ s new home , a 30,000-sq ft factory and office complex , Neil House , on Sotherby Road in Middlesbrough .
Formerly occupied by Hertel , Neil House , on the Skipper ’ s Lane Industrial Estate , is HQ for the firm ’ s various strands : TekFrame ( frame assembly ), TekConstruct ( the contracting arm ), TekDesign ( design and engineering ) and TekBuild ( installation , and the umbrella firm founded in 2017 ).
And there ’ s an understandable sense of pride at projects such as that Borough Road student accommodation block , Harrison House .
TekConstruct has a contract with local developer H & H Properties North East Ltd , run by developer Peter Hall , to design / engineer , supply and install the towering student block , although all the TekGroup companies play some role .
The 10-storey complex will feature 95 bedrooms and even a ground-floor bar .
At the time of writing , just two more storeys needed adding , although completion was imminent .
And TekGroup business development
WORDS : DAVE ROBSON
manager Anthony Pepper says it ’ s a great project to have been involved with .
He said : “ It ’ s a prestigious thing for us , especially with it being a local project and we ’ re all local employees within the firm . The design , engineering , assembly and installation is all done by local lads . And it ’ s going to be one of the tallest buildings on Borough Road .
“ H & H employed a local architect to design it and provided the information for us . We designed the model , issued out for approval and comments , got to the construction stage and then hit the manufacture .
“ We ’ ve utilised modern methods of construction and the framework is light gauge steel , which is very quick to install , extremely watertight and has a better fire rating than timber .”
Once construction is complete the block will be fitted out , with a view to Teesside University students coming in next year .
But it ’ s just one of several projects TekConstruct and its Tek offshoots have on the go at the moment , including schools and a number of bespoke luxury homes .
And it has all coincided with that June move to Neil House , named after the late father of TekBuild founder Paul Hutchinson .
Anthony added : “ We ’ ve been very successful , very busy . We were expecting baby steps but things have progressed quickly . We ’ ve got eight lads on the shop floor now , about 20 to 25 in the factory plus about 40 to 50 out on site – and they ’ re all local .”
MD Andy Scholes said the “ local ”
Construction – TekConstruct used light gauge steel for the building ’ s framework .
element is important to the Tek group .
He said : “ We work nationwide and abroad – we ’ re currently doing some work in Holland – but at the moment we ’ ve got a glut of local jobs , which is great for us .
“ We ’ ve just finished the Mo Mowlam School at Redcar , we ’ re doing the Discovery School in Middlesbrough and we ’ re building another student accommodation block , Dormans House , with 50 student apartments .
“ And it ’ s been good to do the Harrison House job . It ’ s the first project we have put through the factory since we ’ ve moved here .
“ The move has worked out really well . We ’ ve got the factory fully loaded until the middle of next year and beyond , without really looking , and we ’ re working with a high-profile local developer .
“ It ’ s also nice to do local work because everybody who works for us , even the 50- odd site lads , are from around here . The furthest away is from Darlington and 95 per cent live on Teesside .
“ It ’ s good to have local work and a presence in the town .”
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