Expansion in the frame as builder goes national

Dec 24 2010 by Chris Knox, The Journal

A BUILDING firm is looking to expand nationwide after being placed on two framework agreements, which could see it carry out refurbishment work in Cumbria and Greater Manchester.

Straightline Construction, based in Newcastle, is poised to pick up work outside the region after successfully winning a place on the Cumbria Housing Partners framework and the GM Procure framework, which covers Greater Manchester.

This means that the firm will be one of the first ports of call for local social housing landlords when window and door refurbishment work is required in those areas.

It is a major step for the business which hopes to create jobs for locally sourced construction workers through the agreements.

The firm, which was launched in 1985, specialises in window and door replacement and is currently nearing the end of a £4m contract from Your Homes Newcastle to replace windows and doors at the Byker Wall, which will see it service around 400 properties.

It has also landed work through North East Procurement for the external refurbishment of 240 properties for Derwentside Homes, which will see it working in areas such as Consett and Stanley. In addition, the firm has also just picked up two contracts in Newcastle following the demise of national builder Rok, which it said would help it to keep its 70-strong workforce busy into 2011.

The first will see it fit windows and doors at 104 properties at City Road, Byker, while the second will see it fit a new roof as well as carry out other external repairs at Breamish House in Newcastle.

Although the firm expects its turnover to fall from £12m to £9m in the 12 months to the end of March 2011, it believes the new work will help to improve its fortunes by the time it gets to 2012.

The firm is also hoping to create jobs in the North East over the coming months after being forced to cut its workforce back from 90 to 70 staff over recent years.

Keith Newbegin, director at Straightline, said: “It has certainly been a difficult market for most building companies this year, but this new work will put us in a great position for 2011 and may even see us increasing the size of our building teams.

“It was important that we were able to get a foothold in markets elsewhere and these frameworks help us to do that.”

The company said it was also trying to tap into the direct to consumer market after launching new website www.straightlinewindows.co.uk, and that its experience in the market was helping to attract private customers.