IT is ten months until the starting pistol is fired at the Olympic Games but North- East businesses are being urged to look beyond London 2012 for lucrative deals in the international sporting calendar.

UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) is leading a trade mission to Brazil next month to help firms from this region bid for contracts at the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

UKTI believe that companies should use the experience of bidding for London 2012 contracts as a launchpad for the stream of upcoming events that includes the 2014 Winter Olympic Games as well as next year’s UEFA European Football Championships and 2014 Asian Games.

To date, about 70 North- East firms have been awarded some of the 50,000 London 2012 contracts, including the design of the white water slalom course, and the athletes’ village. Earlier this month, Apex Wiring Solutions, based on the Meadowfield Industrial Estate, near Durham City, won a multimillion pound electrical wiring contract to supply the International Broadcast Centre, in East London.

Darlington-based engineering company Cleveland Bridge, Hathaway Roofing, of Bishop Auckland, Sotech Ltd, of Peterlee, Teesside’s Varley and Gulliver, Severfield Rowen, of Dalton, near Thirsk, North Yorkshire, and Dane Architechtural Systems, of County Durham, have been among the region’s businesses to be given a timely boost by the sporting showpiece.

Newcastle firm Hart Door Systems supplied four doors for the main athletics stadium as well as securing additional work to help develop the East London site. The company will join the market visit to Brazil to put itself in the frame for the Rio Games.

Alan Richardson of Hart Door Systems explained: “As we have seen ourselves, just because you are successful bidders at London 2012 it does not guarantee you success at similar events. But my view is that if you don’t buy a ticket, you can’t win the lottery, so we will join the delegation to Brazil in a positive frame of mind.”

John Doolan, one of UKTI’s international trade advisers, said: “Whether it’s developing infrastructure, procurement, branding, event management, ticketing or security, companies in the North-East have the expertise and capability to help deliver world-class sporting events, right from the bidding and planning stages through to delivery and legacy.

“Over the next ten years numerous global sporting events will take place that will offer huge business opportunities.

UK Trade & Investment can help North-East firms break into this potentially lucrative market.”