A THRIVING North East engineering company is continuing its expansion, leasing new premises close to its Gateshead base.

Express Engineering has taken on an additional 20,000 sq ft. of manufacturing space at Team Valley as it works to meet growing demand from the oil and gas industry.

The firm, which is also spending £1.5m on new equipment across its plants says the new factory will be used for welding, machining, assembly, testing and storage.

The expansion will create around a dozen jobs taking the number of employees beyond 210 – 50% up on 2008.

Managing director Nigel Davison said: “Despite all the investment we have made during the recession we once again found ourselves in need of more manufacturing space and this property is in the perfect location – very close to our head office.”