Infrasafe, a Blaydon based infrastructure maintenance company, is planning to create 100 jobs and triple its turnover to £6m in two years by moving into new markets, having received help from Business Link and the North East England Investment Centre.

Business Link, the region’s primary access point for business support solutions, enabled the company to complete a successful rebranding exercise, and training programme for its staff.

Infrasafe, which currently employs about 70 staff, offers recruitment, training, construction, maintenance, repairs and environmental services, such as graffiti and vegetation control. It originally served primarily the rail industry, but is also now working with local authorities and the private sector.

Originally called Railsafe, it was launched following rail privatisation 15 years ago and has since continued to work closely with Network Rail to maintain and upgrade track.

“We have grown and prospered by serving the rail industry and that is where we have built a pretty solid reputation, but there has been an economic downturn and our traditional sectors are affected by it like any other, so we have to look a bit outside of the box and, rather than sink with the recession, rise from it and expand,’’ says commercial director Brian Cairns.

“The idea behind changing from Railsafe to Infrasafe was to look at our strengths and at what else we could be doing. So we looked at the things we were qualified to do on the railway such as environmental services and minor builds works, graffiti removal, vegetation control and fly-tipping clearance and broaden that out so these can be services we could be offering to both the public sector and the private sector. It’s about getting the message across that we can provide a broader range of services.’’ For help with this rebrand, the company turned to Business Link, which provided the services of adviser Leon Howe. He worked closely with the company, providing information, advice and guidance to help identify a package of solutions which included support for rebranding, including new logo design, and support to enhance the company’s website. Leon also worked with Infrasafe to access funding from the North East England Investment Centre (NEEIC) to assist with marketing.

Following the successful re-launch, Business Link skills adviser Ian Coull then carried out a skills audit which has resulted in updating staff skills in health and safety management.

“We have had good support from Business Link,’’ says Brian Cairns. “Both the advisers we have worked with have been impressive and even on the funding from the North East England Investment Centre, which I feared would be laborious, was actually fairly quick and the whole process has been fairly painless - I can’t think of any negatives.’’ Business Link adviser Ian Coull says: “Infrasafe are a very forward looking company and it is to their credit that they looked at their market and identified that they needed to move into other things and look at new ways of getting into those markets. They are innovators and are not satisfied with merely copying what they have done before but are very open-minded to change and that makes them a pleasure to work with and I look forward to helping them with future developments.’’ Business Link has a team of expert advisers who offer advice, help and information to individuals and companies across the region, giving them access to the ‘business brains’ who will help to get their business idea off the ground, or grow their existing company. For further information about Business Link visit www.businesslink.gov.uk/northeast or call 0845 600 9 006.