A HOUSEBUILDER is convinced there must be something in the mortar because the patter of tiny feet is becoming an all-too-familiar sound for employees at its headquarters.

In the past six months, three of the 30 staff at Bowey Homes' head office in Team Valley, Gateshead, have become fathers and a fourth employee is expecting her first baby in a few weeks' time. All the babies are boys.

Design manager David Atkinson is the proud father of eight- week-old Tommy, design engineer Shaun Dodds is father to five-month-old Scott, and senior quanity surveyor Steve Deas has a five-month-old baby, Thomas. Sales administrator Sarah Herford is also hoping her baby will be a boy - but only time will tell.

Ms Herford, from Morpeth, said: "We were all a bit surprised that all four of us were expecting babies at the same time."

Bowey Homes has developments at Aydon View, at Alnwick in Northumberland, Willow Green, in Ashbrooke, Sunderland, and Liberty Green in Washington Old Village.