BEDE Engineering is the latest company to benefit from work on the £14m Alnwick Garden project.

The company, in Birtley, County Durham, has increased its staff numbers to help in constructing a 250m steel-framed pergola, which forms one of the main focal points of the garden.

Bede has already built a 70m framework for the rose garden and carried out other work for the ornamental garden.

George Gibbon, managing director of Bede, said: "The Alnwick Garden contract means we are able to expand our workforce by three, and now employ 25 full-time staff.

"It's a great opportunity for us to demonstrate to an international market that we have the skills and resources required to fulfil the work."

Constructed from fabricated steel, the main pergola will support 850 hornbeam trees, which will be trained over the structure.

There are 85 people working on the garden, which has been supported by £450,000 from the European Regional Development Fund.

Ian August, garden project manager, said: "From the outset, we knew the Alnwick Garden would provide a boost to the tourism industry, but we were also keen to help industry in the region by using local firms to carry out the work wherever possible."

As well as Bede Engineering, landscape contractor Trevor Atkinson, of Barnard Castle, North Shields-based Classic Masonry, Joyce Drainage, of Hexham, and Amos Brothers, of Heddon-on-the-Wall, have won contracts for work on the garden's construction.

The 12-acre garden is due to open on October 1.