Specialists take optimistic view

Sep 11 2009 by Chris Knox, The Journal

A SPECIALIST building firm that has seen its turnover drop from £4m to £3m believes it can get itself back on track after working on a series of NHS and education projects.

Newcastle-based G T Contracts is a sub-contractor in the building industry, specialising generally in partition walls, suspended ceilings and structural steel walls, and believes it is well placed to bounce back from the recession.

The firm, which was established in 1985, said it had found trading tough over the last year as a result of developers delaying a range of large scale projects, but said that it had been able to keep its workforce around the 48 mark. It has been helped by a string of education contracts as part of the Government’s Building Schools for the Future (BSF) project as well as a number of hospital developments.

These include fitting steel walls and suspended ceilings at Durham Johnston School in Crossgate Moor, and the firm recently received a Certificate of Excellence from the Association of Interior Specialists after building a number of suspended ceilings at the new Renal and NCCT Hospital Wing at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle.

The firm, which works alongside builders including Laing O’Rourke and GB Building Solutions, now believes it can start to grow its sales to £5m and is looking to expand its operations beyond the Tyne Tees region to areas such as the Midlands to ensure it keeps work coming in.

It is also keen to continue with its apprenticeship scheme after one of its apprentices, Jamie Fineran, recently won the Best 1st Year Dry Liner award, sponsored by The National Construction College at Erith in Kent.

GT managing director David Oliver said: “It’s been tough over the last year, as work has dried up for many of us in the construction sector.

“However, we are determined to keep hold of our team here, as their hard work and commitment has helped to keep us going”.