£2.2m hospital work in healthy order book

Apr 18 2008 by Chris Knox, The Journal

BUILDER Dorin is putting the finishing touches to a hospital contract as part of efforts to avoid the credit crunch.

The £2.2m refurbishment of two wards of North Tyneside General Hospital is part of a healthy order book for the Newcastle firm, which is also in talks with the Isos housing group to develop a £1m affordable housing site at Bardon Mill, Northumberland.

The firm, which has just started a £670,000 mixed-use scheme for Isos in Wallsend, has also finished work on the new Metro travel shop in Central Station, which is now open for business, and follows its recent £600,000 project to refurbish the Grade II listed Whitley Bay Metro station.

Bosses are confident that such a frequent supply of contracts will see Dorin through the economic turmoil currently facing a large proportion of construction firms in the North East and is now hoping to double its £20m turnover in five years. It is also hoping to double its 160-strong workforce in the same period and has earmarked £750,000 to improve its facilities at Kingston Park. Richard Brown, financial director at Dorin, said: “Although we appreciate the problems in the wider market, our diverse range of ongoing projects has helped us weather the storm of the credit crunch thus far. Of course, you can never be 100% certain how things will be in the future, but we are confident that we can continue our growth and increase our workforce at the rate we are going.”

The North Tyneside General project was the first time that the two wards had been refurbished in 25 years and saw Dorin bring them up to the standards of Northumbria Healthcare’s newer hospitals.