Teesside Cast Products (TCP) has created its first 27 jobs

The grant to PD&MS Energy (Teesside) Ltd is the first from the £60m Tees Valley Industrial Programme (TVIP), announced by Business Secretary Lord Mandelson in December.

It was awarded within a week of the company’s application first being submitted.

The firm, specialising in engineering design and draughting for the offshore industry, has received £185,000, which will enable it to expand its operations at Stockton and create 27 jobs over the next two years.

Managing director Andrew Stevenson said: “Key to the critical success of this venture is attracting the right calibre of staff, with this funding giving the company the confidence to recruit and bring into the business a large number of talented individuals.”

The company is preparing bids for several multi-millionpound projects, the contracts for which will be awarded in the next year.

PD&MS Energy is owned by the Port Clarence-based Wilton Group, which employs 250 people in the Tees Valley, and opened its Teesside office last year.

The firm has already won its first large-scale design and manufacturing project, along with smaller contracts.

The grant was awarded through regional development agency One North East, which has funded £30m of the TVIP programme, with the rest coming from the Government.

The fund was created to help fill the jobs void that will be left by TCP should a buyer not be found and all 1,600 workers are made redundant.

The importance of companies such as PD&MS Energy creating specialist jobs is that they are likely to be in a similar wage bracket to the jobs that could go at TCP, with steelworkers earning in the region of £30,000 to £40,000 with shift payments.

Chief executive Alan Clarke said: “TVIP was created to accelerate job prospects as a direct result of the partial mothballing of Teesside Cast Products and it is excellent to see the fund proving a success just two months after it was created.

“PD&MS Energy (Teesside) will service a range of regional growth industries, such as oil and gas, offshore renewable, nuclear, petrochemical an heavy industries, and with an exceptional average salary these are excellent high-quality jobs.”