Sponsored by Southern Asset Management
JOB CREATION
SMALL BUSINESSES( 10-50 EMPLOYEES)
FINALIST
Climb & Conquer
Stockton
Just the job – GLC Projects’ Graeme Cochrane( left) receives the category prize from Southern Asset Management’ s Steve Southern.
WINNER
GLC Projects Hartlepool
16 jobs created – 178 % growth The boss of a demolition contracting firm says he’ s proud to tap into Teesside’ s rich industrial heritage as his company expands.
GLC Projects is celebrating winning the Job Creation( Small Business) trophy after growing its workforce in the financial year from nine to 25. And for MD Graeme Cochrane, there’ s no place like home. He said:“ We’ ve got some fantastic people across Teesside. It’ s why I set the business up here and it’ s why I live here – it’ s a great region.“ We’ re a demolition decommissioning business and when you think of the talent in this area, from steel building to heavy industry, we need to keep those skills on Teesside. Hopefully within our business, we can create jobs in that heavy industry Teesside’ s known for.”
After receiving the trophy, he told the 140-strong audience:“ It means a lot to win this award.
“ When you start a business, you go from full-time employed to bridging that gap to start the business and it’ s really difficult. We underpin our work with public sector work to create that foundation and then we do a lot of private sector work off the back of that.”
And with GLC celebrating seven years in business, he praised his team for helping it grow.
He said:“ One of the challenging things in any growing business is finding the right people willing to go on that journey with you. That’ s been a massive challenge for us but it’ s worth celebrating our team – it’ s not just about turnover.
“ We’ ll keep growing – we’ ve moved up to £ 2.4m turnover this year and are looking at £ 3m going into next financial year, so we’ ll need a bigger team to support that.
“ We’ re seven years old as a business this year and hopefully the people we’ ve recruited in the first few years are here for the long haul on our growth journey.”
10 jobs created – 91 % growth Founded in 2021 by Shane Parkins as a freelance consultancy, Climb & Conquer has grown to become one of the north’ s leading digital performance agencies.
And while it remains“ proudly remote first”, its 2,400-sq ft HQ on Stockton’ s Teesdale site is a suitably impressive place to house a team that expertly delivers a range of managed services, including SEO, Google Ads and Klaviyo.
A growth in clients has brought new jobs in its specialist marketing, admin and finance teams. And with a series of impressive“ wins” for its clients, the signs are good for continuing future growth.
FINALIST
TU Online
Middlesbrough
Six jobs created – 25 % growth Teesside University’ s online learning service, TU Online, allows more than 1,000 students to study 100 % online, at a time that suits them. Its student-first approach and community learning network means students grow a network of connections, and follow a wide range of courses, without having to physically attend campus, but while still having access to all of the world-class teaching and support Teesside University has to offer.
The result is a service that empowers students with the skills, knowledge and expertise to thrive in a globally connected workplace while putting them“ in control of pace and place” as they study.
SPONSOR’ S MESSAGE:
Steve Southern, CEO, Southern Asset Management When I got asked if I’ d sponsor a category, I was a bit embarrassed to be fair and originally said‘ no’– I look at the companies that are shortlisted and that’ s what I aspire to be. However, there was one category – the job creation category – and that’ s something I really believe in. Since setting the business up, that’ s all I’ ve ever wanted to do and luckily, we are growing quite rapidly. So, I had to say yes. To everyone in the room, the winners and those shortlisted- huge congratulations!
128 | Tees Business