Member Article

Asbestos management firm grow with investment

North East asbestos management firm Nichol Associates has secured a £70,000 investment to help fuel its ambitious expansion plans.

The funding has come from the Finance For Business North East Growth Fund, and has been used to buy new equipment ahead of bidding for larger and longer contracts with bigger organisaitons.

As a result, the company expects to reach over a million pounds turnover next year, and will aim to add at least eight more staff to its workforce of 22.

Experienced asbestos manager Dave Nichol founded the company in 2006, which services a wide client base from multi-national organisations and city councils through to individuals from health and safety professions with a particular training need.

Dave said: “When we set up the company, we knew that the increased responsibilities that building owners faced around managing asbestos-related issues presented a clear commercial opportunity, and capitalising on this has helped us build a company that is already recognised as a leading name in its sector.

“We knew that there were bigger contracts out there that we could bid for if we enhanced the resources available to us, so looked at the different options for bringing in the investment that we needed to make this happen.

“The NEL team didn’t treat us like just another set of figures – they developed a really strong grasp of our business and how it would benefit from a capital injection, and worked closely with us through the thorough investment application process.”

Simon Johnson, senior investment executive at NEL Fund Managers, added: “Offering proven expertise within an expanding niche market presents a powerful commercial opportunity, and this latest Growth Fund investment will enhance Nichol Associates’ capacity to build on very solid foundations and achieve even better results.

“Interest in the Growth Fund continues to be very strong from firms right across the north east, proving that the difficult economic climate is doing little to diminish the commercial ambitions of businesses in our region.”

Now Nichol Associates hope that bringing contracts into the North East will also bring jobs, and aim to build on their service offerings.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .