A DRILLING company is expecting to take on more staff after securing contracts worth £1.5m.

County Durham company Drilcorp Ltd, which employs 32 people, has secured contracts for the London Underground and Coal Mine Gas Recovery.

The London Underground contract involves renewable energy work around Green Park station and follows on from a range of successful projects in the capital.

Chief executive Dave Gowans said: “Despite the current economic downturn we have experienced a very successful year.

“The two recent contracts we have won relating to the burgeoning renewable industry are worth more than £1.5m.”

The company recorded turnover of £3.7m last year.

The recent contract wins have brought forward expansion plans, and they are now recruiting for a risk and compliance manager and a technical project manager.

Mr Gowans, who has drilled for minerals across the world, before founding Drilcorp in 1992, said: “We have recently invested £800,000 in new drilling equipment and currently have a £2m order book.

“Within five years I can see us hitting a £10m turnover figure and be employing 45 staff.”

The company, based in Hawthorn, near Peterlee, has carried out work in London for a number of years and recently opened an office in Essex.

The company’s main area of work is drilling for water and it is also heavily involved in the renewables market, with new developments in London now having to provide ten per cent of their power from renewable sources.

High-profile clients in the capital include The Royal Festival Hall and Kew Gardens, and the firm was also responsible for drilling bore holes to lower the water table around the Channel Tunnel’s underground Stratford International Station.

Mr Gowans said: “The Stratford International Station was the biggest drilling contract we have ever had and worth £3m.”

Mr Gowans said that the company got to “some very interesting places” which have included providing borehole work for a colony of Buddhist monks on Holy Isle, off the Isle of Arran in Scotland.