Member Article

Hartlepool's Hydrochem breaks £1m turnover barrier for the first time

Independent North East water treatment firm Hydrochem has broken the £1m turnover barrier for the first time in its 29-year history.

The Hartlepool-based business, whose clients include Bannatyne’s and Butlin’s, has also recently secured a £100k contract with a London council to carry out chemical cleaning and maintenance in 24 schools.

Managing Director Bill Abbott was delighted with the firm’s financial results for the year ending December 31, 2015.

He said: “We are delighted with the figures for the year just ended. Reaching the £1m mark is a milestone, we have been close a few times but this is the first time we have achieved that goal.

“We had an excellent performance over 2015, building up our client list, bringing in new staff to cope with the increase in workload and generally widening our horizons in terms of the work we carry out.”

As well as its private sector clients, Hydrochem also provides water improvement services to the public sector, such as in schools or hospitals.

Bill continued: “All of the schools have major heating issues and their systems have not been treated for many years, and we are delighted to win this contract to remedy the faults.

“We did a similar project at a very large school in Birmingham where there was an old system in place with cast-iron radiators which weren’t working properly.

“There were major issues where the heat wasn’t coming through efficiently, so we carried out a balanced flush through it and injected a chemical cleaner and inhibitor to shift the sludge which had built up in the pipes over the years. Our Hydrochem formulated treatments can get tired old heating systems kick-started again, saving on efficiency and thousands of pounds in energy costs.”

On the London contract win: “That particular job was a huge success and it has led to the London contract. Our engineers are well trained in Chemical Cleaning and work both in and out of hours to ensure that disruption is minimal.

“We are well positioned going into 2016, and we want to build on the success of 2015 over the next 12 months.”