BUILDING and civil engineering contractor Wharton Engineering has won contracts worth more than £5m in the past two months, the company has revealed.

The volume of work from the three deals is so great, the Darlington company said its order book for the rest of the year has been filled.

Wharton Engineering, which has traded in the town since 1984, has expanded significantly over the past two years on the back of a run of major contracts, which has seen its workforce rise from 40 to its present level of 60.

While company founder and owner Peter Wharton said further expansion would depend on the sector as a whole continuing to thrive, he said the new deals - with Cummins Engines, in Darlington; Healthcare North-East, in Guisbrough, Cleveland; and Theakston's Brewery in North Yorkshire - would be "very significant" for the business this year.

"These are three big contracts for us, and we expect them all to be completed in the first quarter of 2008," he said.

"As a result, our order book is now full until the end of the year, so it's going to be next year before we need to get back into the market looking for new contracts."

The deals involve Wharton Engineering carrying out industrial work at Cummins' plant, building a 50-bed care home for Healthcare North-East, and converting old buildings owned by Theakston's, in Masham, into a hotel and restaurant.

While Mr Wharton said the scale of the work would have a positive impact on the company, he said it did not judge its success in terms of turnover or values of deals.

"We have grown organically for many years, but have been massively helped in the last couple of years by the construction industry, when we have seen an increase in work and we've also employed another 20 people," he said.

"But we are not a slave to turnover, it's not like we have shareholders and have to achieve a certain level of turnover and look to increase that year on year," he said. "We are proud of being a local company and are more focused on the quality of the work we complete and in ensuring our people's jobs are safe."