MANPOWER provider Orion Group has expanded its operations in the North East by opening a new office in Teesside and forecasting a turnover of £10m in its first year.
The Inverness-based firm said Teesside would grow its client base in the oil and gas sector, while continuing to nurture business in the region.
The new office is based at Wynyard Business Park.
The group recently reported a 25% rise in turnover last year to £308m, with profits up 62% to £9.1m.
This year the firm, whose clients include Nexen, BP, Total and Wood Group PSN, expects to achieve overall revenues of £360m.
Orion Group divisional director Phil Patterson said: “The North East business has been growing year-on-year since it opened in Newcastle nine years ago.
“We have established a solid reputation with major clients based on our performance in providing to both the client and contractor a full and comprehensive cost-effective service.
“We’ve always planned to expand the company into Teesside but had to speed things up after one of our biggest clients, Fabricom Offshore Services Ltd, encouraged us to become their neighbours.
“Obviously we were keen to make this happen and after six months of planning we’ve now moved in.
“Traditionally our focus has been within the oil and gas sector, but we want to do more than that here. The Teesside team will continue to nurture business in this area, while growing our petrochemicals client base.”
From Newcastle and now the Teesside office, Patterson and his team of ten will be providing skilled construction engineers and project design workers to clients including Fabricom.
Chairman Alan Savage added: “Phil has built up a great business in Newcastle which is why we’re keen for him to lead us into Teesside.
“A great deal of our business is down to establishing and maintaining good client relationships and this move proves that our approach works.”
The business was recently ranked number-one engineering and oil and gas recruitment provider in the UK in an annual league table by Recruitment International magazine.
Established in 1987, Orion specialises in providing contract and permanent engineering personnel to a range of sectors including oil and gas, power and utilities, renewables, aerospace, rail and construction.
