CONSTRUCTION giant Esh Group will create up to 400 jobs across the North in the next three years as it bids for projects worth £20m in Yorkshire, Humberside and the M62 corridor.

The County Durham company, that expects to see turnover climb by £35m this year, will create 200 jobs in the North-East and 200 jobs from its new Leeds-based “Northern division”.

The expansion plan will see the group’s building and civil engineering arm, Lumsden & Carroll, bid for projects within a 60-mile radius of its new office on the outskirts of Leeds City Centre.

Esh Group chief executive Brian Manning said: “We are aiming to get our Leeds operation up to £20m in the next two to three years. It’s part of our five-year plan to become a £250m-a-year company.

“We are going down there with Lumsden and Carroll but this could pave the way for some of our other businesses to set up there.”

According to Manning the company is currently bidding for a contract to refurbish a mill in Glossop, Yorkshire as well as “other projects” in Scarborough.

The firm, that had turnover of £115m in 2006 is on target to for £150m revenue this year and up to £180m by 2008.

Lumsden & Carroll Construction managing director John Davies said: “We are delighted to be announcing this expansion.

“It’s a natural progression in the growth of the company. We are active in most markets across the region and have worked in North Yorkshire for many years with clients such as North Yorkshire County Council, the Environment Agency and Wimpey Yorkshire.”

Earlier this month the company announced a deal with real estate group Persimmon to develop 120,000sqft of offices at Newcastle Great Park.

The group’s subsidiary, Lumsden and Carroll Construction, will complete the project over the next 18 months at the business park three miles North-West of the city.

In April the group’s Sones Landscaping subsidiary scooped a £1.75m contract with Derwentside District Council to maintain four million sq m of land throughout Derwentside.

Based in Bowburn, near Durham, Esh Group announced plans in February to build 250 new homes in 2007 and 400 homes a year by 2012.

The company is currently waiting for planning permission to build housing and commercial property on three acres at Elvet, Durham, which could be worth up to £40m, but work is not due to begin until 2009.