More than 100 staff at the Cleveland Bridge factory in Darlington have been told they can report back to work from Monday and start manufacturing again.

A statement this afternoon said: "The Joint Administrators of Cleveland Bridge UK have agreed terms to restart production on Monday 9 August 2021 at the business’ site in Darlington."

The joint statement from the administrators, Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen,  MPs Paul Howell and Peter Gibson, Heather Scott, Leader of Darlington Council and the GMB Union added: "Over 100 employees are now expected to return to work over the next week."

Martyn Pullin, Partner at FRP and Joint Administrator of Cleveland Bridge UK, added: “Restarting production is an important milestone for us as we look to secure the future of the business and supports our ongoing talks with interested parties.”

This was the good news the workforce needed just two days after 53 staff - mainly admin workers - were told they had lost their jobs.

Administrators had then confirmed the numbers involved, saying: "A small group of around 25 core staff remain at work to assist the Joint Administrators with their duties and in anticipation of restarting production as soon as possible. The remaining 128 roles remain furloughed pending the intended restart of production."

Read more: First redundancies at Cleveland Bridge

Now production on existing projects can restart - a vital step towards restoring the reputation of the site, which had gone from world-class respected builder to an almost complete collapse in the space of a few weeks.

The Northern Echo understands that there are around two months of guaranteed work from existing projects - which will mean the reduced team working flat out - and then several months after that of work that was in the pipeline when the crisis hit and that could be confirmed now that the factory is working again.

The workers going back through the famous red gates will restore confidence in a deal being done before the new deadline for bids in a couple of weeks to save the rest of the workforce and perhaps even bring it back to near full capacity.

Read more: Cleveland Bridge MD leaves his job

There is still no word on how far any potential bids have progressed, but the removal of MD Chris Droogan on Friday, the trimming down of the staff yesterday and this anouncement of a return to work certainly seem to signal that something is happening at last.

The fact that staff have had to be sacrificed to make that possible is a pure tragedy, but it shows how brutal the market is and how fast safety nets have to be put in place when a bridge starts falling.

As Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen, Sedgefield MP Paul Howell and Darlington MP Peter Gibson said in their last joint statement: “With production due to restart soon so that existing orders can be fulfilled, we remain optimistic that a buyer can be found for this world-leading company with a global reputation built on the expertise and skills of its workforce."