A DRAUGHTSMAN at the heart of Big Ben’s renovation is aiming to build on his capital success by creating new jobs, The Northern Echo can reveal.

Rob Brown is looking for staff to further extend Fabritek’s market presence.

The Darlington-based venture, launched by Mr Brown last year, drew up structural details for huge towers, bridges and a lay-down platform for contractors during the refurbishment of London’s iconic Elizabeth Tower, which includes Big Ben, at the Houses of Parliament.

The business created intricate drawings of the giant construction, which reaches as high as 27 metres and weighs well in excess of 100 tonnes, for fabricator Apex Structures to bring it to life.

Mr Brown, who previously worked as a contract structural designer, and has vast experience of delivering projects across the oil and gas sector, said Fabritek has tremendous potential to go far beyond its Elizabeth Tower calling.

Revealing he is confident of follow-up work as the Parliament renovation enters future stages, Mr Brown said further contracts, including the design of a hangar for BAE Systems, Heathrow’s World Business Centre, and a way to remove and re-attach a London building’s façade, mean it is already on a strong footing.

“We operate between the engineers and architects,” Mr Brown said. “We are almost a translator for bringing the two of them together.

“As iconic structures go, they don’t get much better than Big Ben, and we detailed the four towers, two bridges and a lay-down platform, which can carry 400 tonnes.

“We built it all up on the computer and we went right down to the last bolt, nut and washer for Apex.

“It went up smoothly and without a hitch and there is a very strong chance the next phase will be coming our way.”

However, Mr Brown said the company needs extra staff to fulfil its true ambition, adding his aim is to triple his existing two-strong Darlington team, based in the town’s Business Central office development, into a sextet.

But Mr Brown, who was born in Hartlepool and moved to Darlington about 15 years ago, added that bolstering numbers has so far proven tricky, since workers can gravitate towards engineering or being an architect, meaning the structural detailing element can almost fall between the two.

He added: “We need people who have a genuine interest in how things fit together and who can think mechanically and look at a 3D object in their heads and be able to rotate them.

“We don’t need a mathematician; we are after people who have good problem-solving abilities.”