ENGINEERING
Team talk – members of the BC & T team, from left: Howard Cliff, Alex McAllister, Dave Robson, Jack Ovington and David Kelly.
BC & T Consultants is gearing up to mark four decades of engineering success
READY TO CELEBRATE
WORDS: SARAH WALKER PICTURE: TOM BANKS
Turnkey engineering solutions specialist BC & T Consultants is in better shape than ever as it prepares to celebrate 40 years in business in 2026.
BC & T provides process, mechanical, civil, structural and electrical, control and instrumentation engineering services to the process and petrochemical industries around the world.
General manager Joe Melville says 2025 has been a highly encouraging year for the firm, which sits within a group of companies called Limestone Holdings.
It’ s a year in which BC & T has become widely recognised as a tour de force in the engineering world, both locally and globally.
Limestone Holdings recently acquired P & I Design – another engineering SME on Teesside, which will now operate from BC & T Consultants’ headquarters in Ash House, Thornaby.
Together with Limestone’ s third business, north-west based JM Dixon, the group now has a trio of agile, efficient and capable companies, which are greater than the sum of their parts in terms of what they can offer.
“ This has been a really positive year,” says Joe.“ We’ ve delivered on a number of key projects across the UK and internationally and supported the further development of companies within the group, new recruits and apprentices.”
Joe puts the success down to a mixture of effective marketing and its status as an“ agile and efficient” SME, working closely with group companies P & I Design and JM Dixon, which helps ensure it can always offer that personal touch.
Together, all three smaller businesses can now provide engineering solutions from concept through to detailed design, construction and operational handover.
This will be integral to continued success, as the three businesses look to capitalise on developments on Teesside.
Since the business moved from Kirkleatham to Thornaby two years ago, BC & T Consultants has been making a concerted effort to establish itself as the engineering firm of choice for the Tees Valley area in an effort to support local projects while employing local engineers.
Joe says:“ We are now looking at the introduction of new-age fuels such as sustainable aviation fuel, and we see that Teesside is becoming a major player within that space.
“ We have already been able to support a number of projects across Teesside that fall within our petrochemicals and storage facilities niche, and this year it seems more local companies are aware of who we are and the services we can provide.
“ We want to be involved in those upcoming large projects in the Tees Valley and we have started to gain recognition in the area.”
For Joe, one of the most fundamental keys to success has been its people.
Limestone Holdings – whose name is taken from the fact that they made the UK’ s first gas caverns from limestone – is keen to continue“ growing its own talent” and prides itself on the apprenticeships and work placement opportunities it offers.
“ Notwithstanding the national and international projects we deliver, BC & T is a local engineering company employing local people with a view and a vision to support local projects,” says Joe.
“ As part of that ambition, we are keen to invest in the future workforce and have just taken on more students on work placements as part of their T Level qualifications from Middlesbrough College.
“ We see a huge benefit as a business from doing this and the students are soon working on live projects, which gives them confidence and job satisfaction.
“ We would urge more businesses to welcome students – it’ s not as strenuous a process as you might think and the rewards for everyone involved are incredible.”
In the future, Joe would even like to see BC & T establish its own engineering academy.
Watch this space!
64 | Tees Business