AN engineering company is bringing a new offshore product to the market thanks to the support of a university.

Darlington-based Ardmore Craig was set up in 2010 and provides a range of services to the offshore oil and gas, renewable and marine sectors.

The business has enjoyed an ongoing partnership with Teesside University and most recently, thanks to the support of the Innovate Tees Valley programme, the business has spun out a new company, Laytrix, in order to bring a new subsea pipe-laying tool to market.

Innovate Tees Valley is a Teesside University-led programme which helps SMEs do new things in their business and create and improve services, products and processes.

An idea for a modular offshore equipment spread for the oil and gas sector was spun out into Laytrix and the company was introduced to a fund manager at venture capital funded Mercia Technologies.

Andy Stevenson, founder and director of Ardmore Craig, said: “We are very ambitious and are looking to double our turnover and increase our staff numbers."

For more information, visit www.tees.ac.uk/business.