Elevator firm aiming to go up in world
Jan 14 2009 by Chris Knox, The Journal
AN elevator company expects its sales to rocket following plans to open up a new stair-lift division and set up its own manufacturing plant. Newcastle-based Northern Elevator believes it can grow its turnover from £200,000 to over £1m by next year as it begins its launch into the domestic lift market.
The firm, which was set up in 2006, believes the UK’s ageing population will allow it to tap into a growing market as it looks at ways of continuing its impressive growth, which has already seen it more than triple its turnover from £41,000 in its first year.
It points to predictions that the number of people over 65 are set to rise by 60% over the next 40 years and said that installing stair-lifts was not too dissimilar to the larger-scale work it was currently carrying out.
It has already added six staff to its small workforce and plans to add more this year as it continues its expansion and is looking to open up offices in Scotland, Leeds and Manchester in addition to its current sites in Newcastle, Castle Eden in Hartlepool and Carlisle.
It is the long-term goal of managing director Terry Murtagh to open up an in-house elevator manufacturing plant in the North East, which would create a significant number of new jobs as the company looks to become a one-stop-shop within the elevator industry.
The firm has recently completed a number of lucrative contracts, including the repair of lifts at the head offices of North Tyneside Council, where it also carries out maintenance work.
It also recently completed a number of education contracts, including maintenance work at Sacred Heart High School in Newcastle and has long-standing contracts with Alcan Power Station in Lynemouth and Middlesbrough-based developers Python Properties.
Mr Murtagh said: “We are often asked if we can supply service wheelchair lifts and stair-lifts, and rather than passing these leads on, felt we should look at adding them to our business portfolio.
“Although we are expecting our number of private client orders to be slightly reduced this year, we are still attracting a strong pipeline of work and are launching our stair-lift division to ensure that we are able to capitalise on growing markets during the wider economic downturn.”
