A FIRE safety and security company is preparing to recruit new staff including more apprentices after landing a seven-figure contract.

TFS Limited has secured the contract to install a fire alarm system throughout the University Hospital of North Tees in Stockton. TFS specialises in the design, installation, commission and maintenance of fire alarms, emergency lighting, safety systems, CCTV, security and door access.

Managing director Kevin Hynes said: “This will allow us to further expand our workforce and ultimately provide jobs and apprenticeships for local people.

“I’m passionate about providing opportunities for young people from our area, which is why here at TFS we take on new apprentices every year.

“I’m very proud to be from Teesside. The area sometimes attracts negative headlines, but I see so many opportunities for development and bringing more jobs here.”

Kevin Hynes paid tribute to the strong team behind him, saying: “I’d like to give special thanks to all the staff at TFS. Everything we do is a team effort.

“When our tender for the North Tees Hospital contract was successful we were praised for our technical knowledge, which is a testament to the hard work of our technical sales director Tony Cooney and his bid team.“

David Hynes, operations manager, is proud to be part of the ever-expanding business, which is based at Drake Court, Riverside Park.

“The company’s impressive progress was rewarded when we won the Outstanding Growth award at the Hochiki Europe Awards at the O2 Arena in June 2016,” he said. “Over the last three years we have grown by over a third and have plans to expand further. I recognise that we are only able to continually progress due to having such a strong team.

“Our expansion has created career development opportunities for many of our staff, such as Daniel Lowe, who has been a committed member of staff at TFS for many years and has progressed from starting out as a junior engineer to being appointed installation supervisor.”

Another example is Simone Simms, who was recently promoted from office administrator to office manager.

Simone said: “TFS is a challenging yet very rewarding environment to work in. I feel fortunate enough to have been well supported and given opportunities to further progress my career.”

Assistant director of estates and capital – North Tees and Hartlepool Solutions LLP Steven Taylor said: “We were very impressed by the technical knowledge and significant experience demonstrated by TFS of working within a busy hospital environment.

“TFS’s approach and insight for working within a busy hospital environment is refreshing and provides the Trust with confidence that the project will be well managed and progressed in a collaborative manner to overcome the challenges ahead.”

TFS has an impressive record of offering full-time employment to all apprentices who have completed their training in both engineering disciplines and office administration.

The North Tees system will incorporate state of the art technology including highly sophisticated intelligent monitoring, pre-alerts and the latest wireless functionality.