68 | Tees Business
Julie Raistrick – managing director of steel
fabrication firm Finley Structures.
FAMILY
STRUCTURE
How steel fabrication firm
is shaping our skyline
By Martin Walker
F
ew will realise the impact a local steel
fabrication firm is having on Teesside’s
skyline.
But using locally fabricated steel, and
supporting local jobs, award-winning Finley
Structures has helped to build a surprisingly
large number of well-known structures
across the North-East region.
There’s Teesside University’s eye-
catching Curve building and new student
village, Nifco’s factory in Eaglescliffe,
Middlesbrough Sports Village and the two
Centre Square buildings in Middlesbrough
town centre, for starters.
The family-run firm also built Hitachi’s
train assembling factory in Newton Aycliffe,
Nissan’s Leaf manufacturing facility in
Washington and the National Renewable
Energy Centre in Blyth.
The Newton Aycliffe-based company
recently completed its 90th education
project in 10 years after completing
steelwork for the new Bradford College.
Finley have also worked on the Victoria
Gate shopping centre in Leeds, The Gates
development in Durham city and the
Advanced Manufacturing and Research
Centre (AMRC) in Sheffield. They’ve also
built schools on the Isle of Wight.
The list goes on.
Formed by John Finley in 2000, Finley
Structures prides itself on safety, quality
and attention to detail.
Employing 60 people – although the
Finley group of companies employs
about 150 in total – it’s now run by John’s
daughter, Julie Raistrick.
“We’ve come a very long way over the
years,” says Julie.
“The company was formed nearly 20
years ago, and for a number of years we’ve
been competing nationally and working with
main contractors like Sir Robert McAlpine,
Willmott Dixon, BAM Construction, Bowmer
and Kirkland and Galliford Try, to name just
a few.
“Winning high-profile projects like Hitachi
and Nissan is great, but they’re just a
small part of what we do year-in, year-out.
So many of our projects don’t get all the
headlines.”
It’s Finley’s education contracts, in
particular, that go largely under the
radar. But the firm has worked on 90 in
the last decade – ranging from Walker
Technology College back in 2009 to the
recently-completed Bradford College, to
other schools and colleges in Newcastle,
Gateshead, London, Lincoln, Hull, York,
Scarborough, Cumbria, Doncaster and
Leeds, amongst others.
The firm’s success, says Julie, is down
to solid foundations and traditional family
values.
“The construction industry continues to
be a volatile and uncertain sector as we
charter these challenging waters,” adds
Julie.
“But because Finley Structures has
been built on such solid foundations – and
because of our ‘safety first’ policy when it
comes to credit – we’re in a such a position
to withstand whatever the storm.
“We’ve read a lot recently about other
companies getting into trouble through false
promises or broken contracts, and we’ve
been victim to some of that, too.
“It’s never nice to see any other business
get into trouble – or worse, collapse –
because that’s bad for our industry.
“But we operate a very strict credit
policy, taking advice from our insurers to
ensure we are aware of the risks that may
threaten our history, or our workforce. If we
choose to ignore the financial information
the consequences could be devasting.
“In fact, we have even turned work away
in the last year due to our insurers not being
willing to give us the credit lines we need to
do the work.
“To give you an example, after the
demise of Carillion, we had a contract
in place with them, but we only lost out