A BUILDING company which started as a small village enterprise has announced a record order book for this year, with projects valued at more than £100m.

The Harrison Group, which was started by the late Stanley Harrison at Rillington, North Yorkshire, about 50 years ago, has seen its business expand across the north of England, said chairman Martyn Harrison.

It employs more than 200 people in the Yorkshire region alone.

Latest projects include a £40m scheme to redevelop Workington town centre, in Cumbria, and two regeneration schemes in Sheffield, together valued at more than £20m.

"We put our success down to our partnering approach. It is a good lesson for businesses in any sector, not just development and construction," said Mr Harrison.

"We have established excellent working relationships with both private and public sector organisations across the region to deliver real value for money solutions, often on difficult and challenging sites."

Other recent work by the company has included Merchant Exchange, which houses York's first £1m apartment, and the regeneration of the run-down Tedder Road area of Acomb, where Harrison's partnership with Home Housing and City of York Council has provided a £15m model for other social housing developments, Mr Harrison said.

In Scarborough, the company is building St Catherine's Hospice, and work is due to start in the next few weeks on a £7m private hospital for Independent Care.

Harrison is nearing completion of the £16m Whitehall Landing mixed housing scheme at Whitby, in partnership with KeyLand Developments.

Earlier this year, the Harrison group announced record profits of £2.8m and anticipated another solid performance in 2004 said Mr Harrison.

"We have been largely immune from the skills shortages which bedevil the construction industry, but we are always on the look-out for quality staff.

"We plan to strengthen our senior management team in the coming months," he said.