Teescraft Engineering has been a major employer in County Durham for a number of years and I’m delighted that, with grant support through the County Durham Growth Fund, the company is embarking on ambitious plans to significantly expand.
Hazel Sykes
Business Durham
A fast-growing engineering company which was founded nearly 40 years ago is targeting significant growth including doubling the space it occupies.
Teescraft Engineering, which was founded in 1984 by Ted Page and is based at South Church Enterprise Park in Bishop Auckland, started out as a traditional business offering small scale engineering services to businesses in the automotive sector.
However, when former Teescraft apprentice and now MD Robert Yorke and fellow Director Cliff Laverick carried out a Management Buyout in 2003, they saw the potential to expand and break into new markets, so they purchased several CNC machines and implemented a quality assurance system which would take the business into profitability.
Today, thanks to their ambition, the business is targeting a turnover upwards of £25m, has recorded profits every year, and has a portfolio of companies which it has acquired, including Westlands Castings in the Midlands, Stockton Castings Company on Teesside, and LH (Quarry Plant) at Thornaby.
The next step in Teescraft Engineering’s journey has been supported by the County Durham Growth Fund, which has awarded the company a £90,000 grant to support capital investment of £500,000 in new CNC machines and a new power supply, which is quadrupling their energy capacity to enable the additional machines to be operated.
Cliff Laverick said: “Our growth has been organic, supported by strategic acquisitions we’ve completed over the years, and we really have turned the business around, from the very early days when it used only traditional machines with no real ambition to grow, to how things are today.
“Across our group we employ over 200 people including several apprentices and are now implementing the next stage of our growth plans, which will see significant investment committed to our sites in Bishop Auckland including developing a piece of land that we own adjacent to our existing premises, which will double our footprint.
“It’s an ambitious project and there’s no doubt the support of the County Durham Growth Fund has been pivotal in us committing to it.”
The growth of Teescraft Engineering, which makes cast iron and aluminium parts for the automotive other industries, has been driven in large part to the growth of its major client, Cummins, which just recently confirmed it was investing a further £14m to support the expansion of its Darlington plant.
The County Durham Growth Fund is managed by Business Durham in partnership with UMi and is supported by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). All successful grant applications are appraised by UNW LLP, an independent firm of chartered accountants and business advisers.
Hazel Sykes from Business Durham said: “Teescraft Engineering has been a major employer in County Durham for a number of years and I’m delighted that, with grant support through the County Durham Growth Fund, the company is embarking on ambitious plans to significantly expand.”
Simon Allen, investment centre director at UMI, said: “Since opening in 1984, Teescraft Engineering has gone from strength to strength and in its next phase of growth the company will eventually double in size, cementing its future in County Durham, bringing jobs and investment with it.”
John Healey, Corporate Finance Partner at UNW LLP, said: “The County Durham Growth Fund is here to support our area’s flagship employers who have ambitious plans to grow, which is certainly the case with Teescraft Engineering. It’s a fantastic boost for our area.”
Some of the businesses we've helped
Marmax Products
We have been delighted with the support that Business Durham and their partners have provided our company and with additional funding, we hope to further develop our working practices to safeguard our existing business and expand our capabilities to meet new customer demands and expectations.
Dave Johnson
Managing Director
Redditch Medical
NETPark is a fantastic place to do business in terms of facilities, potential for growth and for collaboration.
Steve Brown
Managing Director
Tekgem
The facilities and ancillary business services here are second to none and the campus feel of the science park suits the culture within the company.
Ian Gemski
Director
SEEDS
The ecosystem in NETPark is just right for us; SEEDS first came here because of its partnership work with the CPI and now our vision is to have a busy lab facility developing various applications and licensing them out to companies.
Peter Chalder-Wood
Head of Strategic Partnerships
Magnitude Biosciences
We expect to more than double the team in Sedgefield to 45 over the next two to three years, with a larger commercial team allowing us to expand our global footprint.
Dr Fozia Saleem
CEO
Wootzano
At a time when the fruit packing labour market is very challenging across Europe and North America, compounded by Brexit, Covid, and the movement of people, Wootzano’s robots are providing a niche solution using game-changing, world-class technology that has been developed here on NETPark.
Jesse Opoku
Chief Operating Officer
Teescraft Engineering
Teescraft Engineering has been a major employer in County Durham for a number of years and I’m delighted that, with grant support through the County Durham Growth Fund, the company is embarking on ambitious plans to significantly expand.
Hazel Sykes
Business Durham
ATT Fabrications
We knew we had the space to add new machines which would not only improve productivity and efficiency but also allow us to add new products and processes, the County Durham Growth Fund helped this happen.
Andrew Devlin
ATT Fabrications
AAA Caring Caretaker
The Caring Caretaker is a company that’s grown from one to a team of 41 and is now, with grant support from the County Durham Growth Fund, in the process of taking its business journey to the next stage, moving to much larger premises and creating a further 10 jobs, cementing its long-term future here in County Durham.
Sarah Slaven
Managing Director, Business Durham
Renovo Solutions
We’ve been incredibly lucky to have secured financial investment from Business Durham which really has been crucial to the growth of the business and fast-tracked our plans in such a short space of time.
Antony Gray
Founder
Ashgarth Engineering
The grant we’ve received from the County Durham Growth Fund has been invaluable to us as without it we probably would have only been able to purchase one machine.
Niall Ash
Director
TO Mounter
We were looking at investing in new machinery which would enable us to expand our client base, and our accountant mentioned the County Durham Growth Fund to us.
Lisa Mounter
General Manager
Creator
Investing in this additional space means we now own our future – we’re not in anyone else’s hands and that’s a fantastic position to be in.
Ryan Carter
Founder
E Catering
We took on more space than we needed to, allowing for our planned growth over the next five years, however with the grant support we’ve had from the County Durham Growth Fund, we are now looking at achieving our projections in the next three years.
Reece Ingham
Head of Finance
Tridonic
It has been a testing couple of years due to the pandemic and this support has been invaluable. Going forwards, we intend to invest further in technology and skills to strengthen our position in this competitive marketplace.
Ben Kennard
Manufacturing and Supply Chain Manager
Newton Press
We’ve got a great team now and looking ahead this year, for us it’s about building on what we have, and then expanding with new orders and further investment at the right times to propel this business forward in this new space.
Stuart Howarth
Sales Director
Get In Touch
Business Durham is the business support service for Durham County Council, helping to deliver more and better jobs and a strong competitive economy.
Contact our friendly team for help with your business.