A FAMILY construction firm is defying tough industry conditions by reporting a 36 per cent hike in turnover to £15m.

Finley Structures, based on Aycliffe Business Park in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham also saw sister company, SCH Site Services, increase turnover, from £2m to £3m in the year up to the end of March 2013.

Finley's has increased its workforce in the last year to cope with a strong order book, up to 59 full-time employees made up of 42 production and 17 office staff, while SCH currently employs 34 people, 29 of which are on-site and five office-based - employing a total of 93 combined.

The firm recently built the steel frame for Nifco's state-of-the-art factory in Eaglescliffe near Stockton and worked on the National Renewable Energy Centre (NAREC) in Blyth, Northumberland. The company is now working on a 70-tonnes contract for Carillion Building at RAF Leeming in North Yorkshire and major projects such as a 1,000-tonne project at Drax Power Station, a 500-tonne contract at Ercall Wood Technology College in Telford and a 400-tonne job at Daventry Academy, all for Shepherd Construction.

Despite tough times for construction trade, managing director John Finley says he expects his company to continues its strong performance this year.

He said: "A lot of people ask me why we’re flourishing when dozens of companies in our industry have floundered. I put it down to our dedicated and highly-skilled workforce.

"Their expertise, attention to detail and excellent team players makes us one of the strongest teams in our market place, and our performance is testament to that.

"More and more of our contracts seem to be getting further afield these days, but we don’t mind. It only demonstrates our ability to adapt and to work on large-scale projects whether they’re a mile away or 300 miles away.

"Our order book for the rest of the year is also busy which means we continue to buck the construction trend.

"We’ve recently added health and safety expert Mark Stones to our staff, as well, and he brings bags of experience with him as well as qualifications in an area which is hugely important in our industry, while we've also appointed a number of key personnel recently, both by internal promotion and external recruitment.

"These are all exciting developments for Finley Structures as we continue to build, and I’m sure our new additions will complement our existing team very well."