Jobs boost for engineering firm

Mar 15 2010 by Evening Gazette

AN ENGINEERING firm has become one of the first companies to receive funding from a £60m pot aimed at accelerating job opportunities in Tees Valley.

PD & MS Energy (Teesside) said it hoped to create 27 new skilled jobs over the next two years with help from a £185,000 Grant for Business Investment from the regional development agency One North East and the Tees Valley Industrial Programme (TVIP), which was awarded £60m days after the mothballing of steelmaker Corus’ Teesside Cast Products plant was announced in December.

Part of the Wilton Group, which employs 250 people in the Tees Valley, Port Clarence-based PD & MS Energy provides specialist engineering design and draughting services primarily to the offshore engineering industry.

The cash will be used for computer equipment and engineering software to expand its operations.

One North East Chief Executive, Alan Clarke, said: “PD & MS Energy (Teesside) will service a range of regional growth industries such as oil and gas, offshore renewable, nuclear, petrochemical and various heavy industries and with an exceptional average salary these are excellent high-quality jobs.

“I wish them the best of luck in this exciting new venture.”

PD&MS Energy (Teesside), owned by the Wilton Group, is a multi disciplinary engin- eering company providing concept and detail engineering design and build services across a wide range of disciplines and markets.

MD Andrew Stevenson said: “This grant will help us to significantly develop the business as we create a range of new products and break into new sectors and markets.

“Key to the critical success of this venture is attracting the right calibre of staff, with this funding giving the company the confidence to recruit and bring into the business a large number of talented individuals.”

Tees Valley Unlimited chair Hugh Lang said the fund’s first award was a “clear demonstration of how the Tees Valley Industrial Programme really can help local companies and create the kind of high-quality jobs our area needs”.

The company is already preparing bids for several multi-million pound project opportunities that will be awarded in the next year and has already won its first large scale design and manufacture project along with a number of smaller contracts.