A SCHOOL furniture business started with a £200 overdraft has moved into a new manufacturing site after securing funding of more than £1m.

Ambic Limited, based in Chester-le-Street, has relocated from its old premises on the Stella Gill Industrial Estate to a newly-built factory on a five-acre site in Pelton Fell.

It follows a £1.3m funding package from NatWest and Lombard, the asset finance arm of The Royal Bank of Scotland, and support from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

The school furniture design and manufacturing business was started by David Potter in 1983 with a bag of tools and a £200 overdraft working from a unit in Byker, Newcastle.

Having started by making technical drawing boards, Mr Potter then began to manufacture other furniture for use in classrooms.

It now designs for and supplies the NHS, police forces, blue-chip businesses and some of the North-East’s universities.

The company employs 40 people and has a turnover of about £2m.

It had been operating from nine units at Stella Gill. The move to a new building provides Ambic with the opportunity to purchase larger manufacturing tools and expand the business.

Mr Potter, who is now managing director at Ambic, said: “The old premises had become unsuitable for our production operations and by moving we now have the capability to take the business forward and produce more furniture to meet greater demands, ensuring that we can continue to turn orders around quickly and deliver on our promises.”

The new factory will give the company the opportunity to be more environmentally-friendly, and will shred or chip customers’ surplus factory wood to fuel a biomass furnace with clean air after-burners that will heat the factory.

With assistance from the DTI the funding package was provided by Dominic Duke, from NatWest’s business and commercial banking team, and Veronica Chisholm, from the Lombard team, in Durham City.

Mr Duke said: “Ambic is a wellrespected company whose products are used by clients across the UK.

“The move to a new, modern factory will undoubtedly strengthen the company and enable them to take the business onto its next stage of development