An Aycliffe company is looking to expand after taking over and completing a major contract for a leading car dealership from a troubled Welsh construction firm.
Raisco, joined forces with construction specialist Mark Jerman, made redundant by Newport-based Dudley and Sons, to enable a Volkswagen garage to complete its refurbishment on time.
Dudley’s was plunged into administration in April, with almost 50 staff losing their jobs, including contracts manager Mark.
The firm worked for Sainsbury’s as a preferred tier one contractor, and Tesco and Waitrose delivering projects worth up to £18m, but the company was half-way through a 12-week project to completely revamp VW’s Merthyr dealership in South Wales before it went bust.
However, with the help of fast-growing Newton Aycliffe firm Raisco and Mark, the project was finished on time and within budget, despite obvious difficulties.
Mark is now heading up Raisco’s new South-West England office as the firm’s new construction manager and with more than 20 years’ experience in the construction industry, he’s hoping to build on Raisco’s rapid recent growth.
“I’m delighted to be joining a young, vibrant company which appears to be very much on the up,” says Mark. I’ve known Gary for a lot of years and he’s earning himself a fine reputation in the construction business for delivering professional jobs on time and within budget, which is the number one priority for main contractors these days.”
He added: “We have the skills, expertise and knowhow to deliver these kinds of contracts and I’m confident we’ll win more work like this in the very near future.”
Gary formed Raisco in 2007 after 17 years in the construction industry and, aged just 33, was named amongst the Young Business Elite of Great Britain. He has quickly grown the company, doubling turnover two years running to March 2011 then March 2012 to £4m.
Gary said: “We steadied the growth to March 2013 and consolidated and are now looking to push our growth through to 2014 and 2015, and have recently increased employment over the last couple of months to take us in excess of 30 full-time staff.”
“We’re delighted to welcome Mark on board – the knowledge, experience and contacts he’ll bring to our table will be hugely beneficial. We have an excellent, growing workforce and one of the best facilities on Aycliffe Business Park, and have exciting plans to expand.”