CONSTRUCTION company the Esh Group has added another company to its stable as part of plans to expand southwards.

The Durham-based group bought David Wilkinson Building Contractors for an undisclosed sum and announced plans to quadruple Wilkinson's turnover within five years.

The specialist building maintenance company has bases in Blyth, Northumberland, and in Ripon, North Yorkshire.

The acquisition will give Esh another foothold in Yorkshire after it announced last year its plans to develop its operations there, as well as in Humberside and along the M62 corridor.

Wilkinson's operations span the North-East and Yorkshire, employing about 50 staff.

It works on projects from refits to fixed-term maintenance contracts, with a 24-hour call-out service.

Its clients includes Boots, Barclays Bank, Marks and Spencer and Lloyds TSB.

The business is being renamed Wilkinsons Facilities Services and managing director Brian Morton will stay on in his role.

Brian Manning, chief executive of Esh Group, which already employs more than 1,000 people in the North-East, said: "We were impressed by the organisation and its fit with our business.

"We believe it brings great added value and we see a real opportunity to grow this business from its turnover of abnout £5m to £20m over the next five years."

Mr Morton said: "Being part of Esh Group will allow us to make a change in our operations and grow organically by increasing our capacity, widening our offering and value of work and looking to attract new clients.

"Our specialist skills, developed through working with the retail and banking sectors, will enable us to offer complementary services to Esh Group's existing businesses. We're looking to the future with optimism."

Esh's construction and civil engineering operation, Lumsden and Carroll Construction, opened offices in Leeds last year as a first step in expanding operations across Yorkshire.

Esh Group, based at Bowburn, provides construction services to both public and private sector clients and has an annual turnover of more than £150m.