AN industrial coatings firm is set to create jobs after bringing previously sub-contracted work in-house.

Monitor Coatings, which managed to retain its entire workforce through the recession, is taking on five new staff immediately, with more expected to follow.

As part of the expansion, Monitor has secured a £400,000 investment from the £20m North-East Growth Fund, managed by NEL Fund Managers on behalf of One North East.

The growth fund is part of the £125m Finance for Business North-East superfund, formerly called Jeremie.

The money will be used to buy the new equipment required to extend the range of services that the firm will be offering, as well as to provide the training required by the 34-strong workforce to use them.

Originally founded in 1927, Tyneside-based Monitor provides coatings for customers in a range of industries, such as aerospace, oil and gas exploration and steel. Its clients include Rolls-Royce and Tata Steel, formerly Corus.

Finance director Philip Winspear said: “Our industry was quite badly affected by the recession, but we worked hard to retain the whole of our highly-skilled workforce, something that we knew would be crucial to our success once economic conditions began to improve.

“Bringing these services inhouse makes sense from both a commercial and a process efficiency point of view, and we’re convinced that it will equip us to grow the business at the speed we’re aiming for.”