Serving the Teesside Business Community | 49
/ MIDDLESBROUGH NEWS
TEES FIRM FIRES UP FOR
£250K CHINESE EXPORT
ESCS managing director Shaun McDonald (front
centre) flanked by staff, Cheryl (left) and Jade
McDonald, and (back, from left): Robert Norris, Lee
McDonald and Tony Walker.
I
ncreasing interest from China in a
pioneering fire protection machine could
help family-run Middlesbrough firm ESCS
achieve a 50% boost to its current £500,000
turnover.
ESCS have sent their self-designed ES300
TL system for demonstrations with a major
oil and gas company based in the Chinese
city of Qingdao.
Talks are now underway regarding the
potential for the Chinese firm to order 10
of the innovative machines in a deal worth
£250,000.
Manufacturers of specialist corrosion
control and spray application equipment,
ESCS already boasts major oil and gas
operators in Australia, Singapore, Indonesia
and Azerbaijan among its customers but
managing director Shaun McDonald believes
the unique ES300 TL could revolutionise the
fire protection industry.
The specialist machines spray thick
coatings of intumescent epoxy materials to
protect steel structures from the threat of
fire on oil and gas refineries, petrochemical
plants, fabrication yards and oil rigs.
From its new premises on South Tees
Freight Park, ESCS already manufactures
and exports the ES430, a larger applicator
of passive fire protection, but produced the
smaller, faster version on request from its
Chinese customer.
Devised by McDonald himself, ESCS
invested £27,000 into the research,
design and planning of the machine, with
manufacturing support from Middlesbrough
firms, Teesside Precision Engineering and
Donoghue Engineering.
Following initial trials at Azko Nobel in
Felling, McDonald now believes the new
machine will prove a huge hit across the
industry.
He said: “This is a real innovation because
it will save so much time. There is nothing
like this on the market so I think these
machines will fly off the shelf once people
out there know about it.”
Hotel extension set
for January opening
Development work that will see the
Holiday Inn Express in Middlesbrough
extended by a further 21 bedrooms is on
target for completion by January.
The £2.2m project will see the Albert
Road hotel, which is part of Cleveland
Centre, increase to 159 rooms less than 18
months after opening.
The three-storey development, which
is being carried out by property developer
Ashall Projects, is being built on land
formerly taken by the neighbouring
Permanent House.
The work will also create space for a
1,600 feet ground floor restaurant run by a
third party.
The hotel’s general manager Mark
Winter (pictured, left, with maintenance
manager Mark Wright), says the extension
was being built to meet increasing demand
since the Holiday Inn Express first opened
its doors to guests in August 2015.
BRAND BUSINESS
EXPANDS OFFICES
Funding boost
is a glass act
A family business which supplies glass and
crystal for decorative products across Europe
is expanding and creating new jobs after
securing over £70,000 in new funding.
Crystal Galleries has created eight new
jobs at its Middlesbrough HQ, significantly
increased its warehouse space and invested
in cutting-edge machinery to aid future
growth.
Its expansion has been backed by £67,000
in funding from the Tees Valley Capital
Grant, which was secured with support
from North East firm Anderson Barrowcliff,
which enabled its client to access research
and development tax rebates, extra banking
facilities and debt funding from UK Steel
Enterprises.
Crystal Galleries has invested £40,000
in expanding its warehouse from 15,000 to
23,000 sq ft and £27,000 on new machinery,
including one of only three sub-surface laser
engraving machines in the country.
A Middlesbrough-based brand agency has
expanded following a successful summer.
Better has increased its studio space
at Plenary House on Queen’s Square and
created three new jobs to cope with a
range of new projects that the company has
recently started work on.
The award-winning strategic marketing,
creative, web and social media agency now
employs a team of 14 and has grown its
office space from 1,000 to 1,500 square feet.
The investment comes following
Better’s successful summer securing new
contracts with Casper Shipping, Endeavour
Partnership, Baltic Training, MyFirmsApp and
OddsMonkey to carry out a range of brand,
creative, web and digital marketing projects.
GROUNDS
MAINTENANCE
EXPERTS WIN BORO
CONTRACT
A family-run grounds maintenance and
landscaping company is celebrating after
winning three major contracts, including
one with leading Teesside independent
commercial property surveying practice
Dodds Brown.
County Durham firm Beaumont Grounds
Maintenance has signed a three-year
deal with Dodds Brown, and is now
maintaining 11 properties it manage