A FAMILY-RUN engineer has gone full circle after completing a project two decades on from carrying out the exact same scheme.

Francis Brown Limited delivered a repeat order for a process sector firm 22 years after an original agreement.

The fourth-generation company provided a ducting vestibule fabrication for Lucite International, which bosses say will be used on one of the business’ Teesside chemical plants.

The first order, placed in 1996, was overseen by Stockton-based Francis Brown’s then managing director David Brown, with the new deal managed by his son and chief executive Jamie.

Speaking about the company’s latest endeavour, Jamie Brown said it was another coup for the firm, which was founded in 1903 as a wire trap and soil sieve shop and now employs more than 100 staff.

He also said it reflected rising confidence in the process sector, with businesses embarking on investment programmes to improve operations.

He said: “We are delighted Lucite came back to us after all these years.

“The fact the previous vestibule endured 22 years of vigorous use is true testament to the quality of ducting we delivered many years ago. It well and truly has stood the test of time.

“We receive many repeat orders, however, this one held real sentimental value as it has been orchestrated by two generations of the family.

“I remember very clearly working on the first order, which was done very differently back then.

“Now, however, our better-equipped facilities with more space and larger craneage allow us to complete jobs safer, more efficiently and to a higher quality.

“We are seeing a resurgence in investment in some of the chemical processing plants in the region that we worked on before, and we have the skills, facilities and enthusiasm to support their equipment upgrades.”

The contract represents another fillip for Francis Brown, having last year carried out work to make and install a huge carousel for the storage of spare cabling on UK offshore wind farm projects.

The company was commissioned to fulfil the contract at a base in Sunderland by Ecosse Subsea Systems, on behalf of an international infrastructure group.