Finley Structures were winners in Woodham Academy’s third annual Apprenticeship Awareness Programme 2014.

Our team’s display was named the best presentation at this year’s final event, with Ebac winning the overall award.

Six high-profile businesses spent nine weeks taking part in the successful scheme, which is part-funded by the Great Aycliffe and Middridge Partnership (GAMP) and brings education and business together.

Us along with Shepherd Construction, Ebac, Gestamp Tallent, livin and Thorn Lighting took part in this year’s competition.

More than 100 year 9 students took part in a carousel of workshops, dubbed “speed networking”, when the companies involved gave the youngsters a short insight into what they do.

The tutor groups were then allocated one firm which they will visit and get to know more about them and Apprenticeship opportunities.

After visiting the firm, businesses made several return visits to Woodham to help young people put together a presentation, which were delivered during a special evening at the school, when our display came out top.

HR manager Pauline Hadwin said: “We’re delighted to have won best display.

“The Apprenticeship Awareness Programme is very important to us. It helps us to engage with local youngsters and give them an insight into our world and industry.

“It’s also good to give something back to the local community and working with Woodham Academy is always a pleasure.”

Woodham head teacher Christine Forsyth said: “It’s great that children have had the opportunity to go and see businesses first hand and find out what opportunities are out there.

“It’s also been a real pleasure to have local firms working with our young people. I think they’ve learned a lot about what schools do.”

We were delighted to have raised a brilliant £1,118.77 for the BBC Children In Need Appeal 2014.

Our fundraising activities included a raffle, with generous gifts donated by Newton Press, The County, Redworth Hall Hotel, Woodham Golf Course, Beanies, Lox of Love, The Bay Horse Heighington, Siesta Blinds, Gregg Little Testing and Glen Office Supplies Darlington.

The Bay Horse at Heighington also did a bucket collection as part of our fundraising and all together we raised £818.77, with Finley Structures adding £300 to the pot.

We wish to thank all companies who made this worthy fundraising possible and, of course, our staff, friends and family for their generosity in order for this wonderful amount of money to be raised for such a great cause.

Pudsey sent a message saying: “Your donation will make a real difference to the lives of the most disadvantaged children and young people in the UK.

“From money generously donated by the public, BBC Children in Need is able to make grants to voluntary groups, community projects and registered charities who offer practical lasting support to children and young people to help them to have a childhood that is safe, happy and secure and always allows them the chance to reach their potential.

A once thriving industrial factory is back on the up after being stood derelict for six years thanks to Finley Structures.

The former Presswork Metals factory, along Durham Way South on Aycliffe Business Park, has been closed since 2008.

Now plans are in place to convert the building into a new leisure facility, with rock climbing being the main attraction.

The 70,000 square foot facility will include one of the biggest climbing walls in the country, standing at 20 metres tall, and will stage national tournaments. It will also be used by the British team for training.

We purchased the site two years ago and a mixed-use licence was granted by Durham County Council 18 months ago.

Now more than £600,000 is being spent on the facility, with 150 tonnes of steel currently being constructed by us for the frame.

It will be leased to local leisure firm Rockantics, which has been operating from Newton Aycliffe Leisure Centre for the last 20 years.

A huge steel frame which will house the 20-metre climbing wall has already changed the skyline on Aycliffe Business Park, and it’s hoped the new Rockantics will be open in time for the 2015 Easter holidays.

The former Presswork Metals building is one of the original World War Two munitions factories that still exist on Aycliffe Business Park.

And during the re-construction process, we made a number of interesting historical discoveries.

Managing director John Finley said: “We wanted to preserve as many of the original walls as possible, and as we started scraping some of them back to the original brick we found a lot of old signage relating to the War effort.

“One wall had a sign saying ‘3.5 shells’ and another said ‘this is your air raid shelter’!

“We also discovered an old railway line when we were digging the bases out, and we’re assuming these would transport the ammunitions from the factory to the main national rail line.

“It’s really interesting stuff and we feel it’s important that we try to preserve this important piece of Aycliffe heritage, so we’re planning on creating some sort of permanent tribute to the munitions workers which would be incorporated within the leisure facility for visitors to enjoy.”

Joint Managing Directors John and Julie Finley attended an historic event to “top out” Hitachi Rail Europe’s train-building factory in County Durham.

The Japanese giants hosted the event at its Aycliffe Business Park facility in October to mark the completion of the building envelope.

The ceremony was hosted by Hitachi Managing Director Keith Jordan, Merchant Place Developments CEO Michael Chicken and Shepherd CEO Mark Perkins.

Finley Structures were handed a contract by Shepherd Construction to erect 2,000 tonnes of steel for the factory, which is expected to bring 750 direct jobs and thousands more in the supply chain.

Julie said: “It’s a fantastic building and we’ve very proud, as a local family firm, to say we played our part in the construction of it.

“It will be a factory which will become an emblem for County Durham and the Southern region of the North-East, very much like Nissan is for Wearside, and the long-term benefits in terms of employment and creating wealth in this area will last for decades.”

MP Phil Wilson, who also attended the event, said: “This is an £82m investment. They’re going to build trains for the East coast mainline and they’ve recently won a contract to build commuter trains for Scotland, and the long-term objective is to start exporting trains to the rest of Europe.

“95% of jobs here are going to be recruited from within a 50-mile radius of Newton Aycliffe, so the potential for local people is fantastic, especially with the University Technical College that’s going to be built, to ensure local young people can get Apprenticeships here – the next generation of technicians and engineers.”

Meanwhile, Geoff Hunton, director of Merchant Park Developments, says the arrival of Hitachi in Aycliffe is just the beginning for Aycliffe Business Park.

He says he wants to bring 4,500 new jobs to the area as part of the Merchant 2 development, which has already been backed by Government cash, followed by a third development.

And he wants to achieve it all within the next five years.

Schoolchildren have left a lasting legacy on a major new sporting venue in the region which is being constructed by Finley Structures.

Budding athletes from Easterside Academy in Middlesbrough have seen their signatures immortalised in the structure of the main sports building at the new £18 million Middlesbrough Sports Village.

We are constructing the steel frame of the building on behalf of main contractors Willmott Dixon.

And 12 pupils from Easterside signed one of the last sections of steel to form part of the new Hub building.

“It’s been a fantastic opportunity for the children to come along, see how the building is coming on and also to put their names on to the structure,” said Easterside teacher Delyth Linacre who accompanied the youngsters.

“When completed the Sports Village will create lots of wonderful opportunities for our children and their families.”

Easterside Academy is also one of the local primary schools benefiting from free running coaching provided by Willmott Dixon through a donation.

Willmott Dixon Project Manager David Dixon said: “As the key contractor to the Sports Village we feel it is extremely important to benefit and work with the local community.

“We are committed to working with local schools and colleges on all sorts of projects.

“We’d also like to inspire young people to think more about construction when they leave school and the exciting opportunities and variety of career paths they have available to them.”

Key elements of the new sports village include an athletics field and stadium with a 400m track and spectator seating, a full-size artificial pitch along with grass football pitches and a fitness gym and sports hall. Work on a new £1 million velodrome is also due to start next year.

The new track is due to open for use later this month, with work on the new Sports Hub building, associated external sports facilities and sports car parking scheduled for completion in the spring.

The family steel firm which is helping to bring train-building back to the North-East is on course to smash its record turnover after celebrating a string of multi-million pound contract wins.

Finley Structures has recently completed 1,600 tonnes of a 2,000-tonne project to fabricate and erect the steel for Hitachi Rail Europe’s £82m train-building factory in Newton Aycliffe for main contractors Shepherd Construction.

Finley has also recently completed a 1,400-tonne project for Nissan, constructing the steel frame for the Japanese car manufacturer’s new facility in Washington, and is currently working on a 300-tonne contract for the National Biologics Centre in Darlington for contractors Interserve.

In addition, Finley has just started work on Middlesbrough Council’s state-of-the-art Sports Village, erecting 500 tonnes of steel for main contractor Willmott Dixon.

And the Aycliffe company has now won a 500-tonne contract for Bam Construction at Teesside University, due to start in September, as well as a 1,900-tonne project for Sir Robert McAlpine at the £650m Victoria Gate retail development in Leeds, which is planned to open in late 2016.

At the same time, Finley is working on several projects simultaneously for Shepherd Construction as well as two 280-tonne projects for the Poniel Warehouses in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, for Muir Construction.

It represents a strong first half year for the company, with orders in the current financial year, beginning in April, currently totalling £13.8m, meaning it’s already on course to smash its current record turnover of £13.1m.

The firm’s managing director Julie Finley, pictured above at the Hitachi site, said: “We’re currently working on six major contracts, with more than 2,000 tonnes of steel going through our factory over the next 10 weeks, which demonstrates our capabilities to take on and deliver multiple, complex projects.

“Significant investments have also been made recently and now we’re looking to make the next step and keep investing to ensure we’re always improving and increasing capacity.

“As we are trying to be more efficient rather than just chasing turnover, we are currently introducing a more efficient method within the paint area by introducing dual pumping for the painting of the steelwork.

“Bolstering the management team and investing in new kit is all geared towards increasing the firm’s production and capacity to be able to take on more.”

Finley’s currently have between 180 and 200 tonnes of steel going through the factory every week but the ambition is to get that up to around the 300-tonne mark.

Founded by John Finley in 2000, Finley Structures has increased its workforce in the last year to cope with a strong order book, up to 60 full-time employees, while its sister company, SCH Site Services, currently employs 34 people, making a total of 94 staff combined.

They are now looking to take on extra platers and welders in the coming weeks and months to help their buoyant shop floor deal with the extra work along with the implementation of new ideas.

Inquisitive primary school children were given a tour of the factory which is fabricating steel for Hitachi Rail Europe’s train-building facility in County Durham as part of a special project.

Thirty year 2 pupils from Heighington Primary, the nearest school to Hitachi’s £82m site on Aycliffe Business Park, have been learning about the history of trains and visited the Railway Museum in Shildon before studying modern day industry.

They were then given a tour around Newton Aycliffe firm Finley Structures, which is currently busy erecting 2,000 tonnes of steel for main contractor Shepherd Construction on behalf of Hitachi, and were told about the various jobs and roles that exist within a major construction company.

They rounded the trip off with a visit to the Hitachi site, where the youngsters could see real-life construction in action as steel and cladding was being erected.

Heighington Primary School teacher Carly Spence says the youngsters will now use the experience to work on a design project back in the classroom.

“The children have been working on their local area and history that’s pertinent to us, and of course railways is huge in this area,” she said.

“They’ve been finding out about George Stephenson and the Rocket, how trains were made and what kind of jobs there were back then, and how difficult conditions people were working in.

“We started to look at how rail production is returning to the area and they’ll have taken a huge amount out of this visit.

“They’ve been able to link it back to history and see how things have changed. They’ve also been able to look at other things like estimation and product design that they’ve never looked at before.

“It’s also really exciting for them to come to a building site and to see what’s going on.

“They’ll write a report on their visit, linking it to the work they’ve done on the history of the railway, and they’ll also look at the jobs that people do in the modern day and see how they can apply that in their next design project.”

One of the youngsters visiting was eight-year-old Grace – daughter of Finley Structures managing director Julie Finley – who later revealed she’d prefer to work for Hitachi than her Mum’s company.

“I enjoyed going to Hitachi and seeing all the cranes!” she said. “It was really interesting. We found out that the factory my Mam is building weighs 2,000 tonnes.”

Another pupil, Alex, said he enjoyed visiting the Finley site, adding: “I quite enjoyed looking on the computers at how they keep the metal together so it doesn’t fall down.

“I liked seeing the big machines as well, they picked up all the steel because it was too heavy for the men to lift.”

Eight-year-old Maddie added: “I enjoyed it at Finley Structures and seeing all the stuff inside. One of the jobs I think I’d like to do here is to build it.”

Staff at Finley Structures regularly welcome school children and college students to their premises as part of a commitment to increasing the awareness of the construction industry in the classroom.

Julie said: “We think it’s important to bring young people in like this for all sorts of reasons.

“We see a skills gap, and it’s very hard to find trained and qualified people these days and we’ll soon be losing experienced, time-served people.

“It will take a while for our younger staff, and Apprentices, to reach that level of ability and expertise, so we feel it’s important to let young people see the world of construction at first hand and what types of jobs that are available.

“One girl showed an interest in working on the shop floor. But my daughter, Grace, says she wants to work for Hitachi!”

Students from Durham University enjoyed a tour of Finley Structures recently.

Eleven first year engineering students, who are all 19, were given a tour at our factory on Aycliffe Business Park as part of their “hands on” week with nearby training provider South West Durham Training (SWDT).

The week forms an essential part of their studies, giving them a “real life” insight into their industry, before they continue their academic work at University.

Finley Structures regularly welcomes students and local schools into its factory.

Managing Director Julie Finley said: “It’s important for young people to see for themselves the modern workplace and we’re always keen to welcome students into our factory whenever we can.

“For engineering students, in particular, the workforce of tomorrow, it will hopefully prove to be a useful part of their studies.”

Durham student Magnus Pierre, who visited the Finley site, said: “I found it very interesting and useful.

“Seeing something practical in the workshop is invaluable to our studies and it gives us a great indication as to the scale of some of the projects local companies are working on every day.”

SWDT’s Business Development Manager Kate Chapman added: “As part of our ongoing partnership with Durham University, 150 students come to us for a week to get practical experience in the workplace.

“They spend a lot of time in our state-of-the-art workshops and get to see the world of work at close hand during site visits to various companies in the area.

“It’s essential for students to go out there and complement their academic studies with real experience.”

● Pic: Eddie Pitchers gives the Durham University students a tour around our factory.

The Finley family which is constructing the steel for Newton Aycliffe’s iconic train-building factory presented key people with special mementos during a steel ceremony.

The Japanese firm hosted a special steel ceremony on site to celebrate a large bulk of the steel going up.

Managing Director John Finley watched on, a very proud man, as his daughter Julie addressed guests with a touching speech, before her daughter, seven-year-old Grace, presented commemorative podgers – specialist spanners used in the construction industry – to mark the occasion.

Grace presented the podgers on behalf of developers Merchant Place Developments to MP Phil Wilson, Hitachi Rail Europe’s managing director Keith Jordan, Shepherd Construction’s regional managing director Andrew Constantine and her Mum, Julie.

Julie said: “This represents a lot of hard work from John and Val, my Mam and Dad.

“I remember years ago when I was a child, our Sunday afternoon drive always involved looking at various sites, looking at where his next job was going to be.

“We didn’t appreciate it then, but this just makes it all worthwhile.

“It’s huge for the area. There was a lot of empty factory space on Aycliffe Business Park, but now there’s very, very little left.

“So it just shows how much potential this project can bring to the park.”

Hitachi Rail Europe Managing Director Keith Jordan was impressed to see three generations of the Finley family present at last week’s steel ceremony.

“Finley Structures being local, within a mile of this facility, it couldn’t be better than that,” he added.

“It’s quite a big contract that they’ve won and to have a local company that has been here for a long time, three generations, and to see the young daughter make those presentations was very good – and we hope she’ll become one of our first apprentices!”

● Pic: Grace presents podgers on behalf of developers Merchant Place Developments to MP Phil Wilson, Hitachi Rail Europe’s Managing Director Keith Jordan, Shepherd Construction’s Regional Managing Director Andrew Constantine and her Mum, Julie.

We’ve appointed a new Senior Quantity Surveyor – and her first job is to work on the high-profile Hitachi Rail Europe project in Newton Aycliffe.

Diane Ruston is used to working on large-scale construction projects in her previous role for a major national construction company.

The 30-year-old says she jumped at the chance to work for Aycliffe-based family-run firm Finley Structures.

“The attraction was working for a family firm, and working in smaller teams,” says Diane, who graduated from Warwick University in 2004 with a degree in economics.

“I can get more involved in the systems side of jobs and looking at procedures, and the opportunity to work on projects like Hitachi’s train-building factory is fantastic.”

Darlington firm Shepherd Construction, the main contractor for the Hitachi project, handed Finley Structures the task of constructing the steel frame of the main factory on the 42,700sqm site at Aycliffe Business Park earlier this year.

Diane added: Diane added: “At the moment we’re working on the main shed build, so there’s a lot of Hitachi steel going through the factory.

“I look after the financial and legal side of the project, sub-contract orders and working on our contract with Shepherd.

“It’s great to be working on such a high-profile project straight away. The Hitachi development is huge for the area but also for the UK, so naturally we’re keen to do the best job we possibly can.”

Diane joining Finley Structures comes six months after the high-profile appointment of Jim Graham, who joined the Aycliffe firm as operations manager.

Managing director Julie Finley said: “Diane’s appointment is another hugely positive development for the company and is another indicator of the direction in which we’re heading.

“Our team has already showed its capability to work on major projects, but Diane brings more qualities to the table and, as well as working on the Hitachi project, her knowledge and expertise will only enhance all of the projects we’re working on and will continue to win in the future.”

Finley Structures, started by Managing Director John Finley in 2000, has completed a string of high-profile contracts in recent years.

The company has worked with Shepherd Construction on a 1,000-tonne project at Drax Power Station in Selby, North Yorkshire, and the 950-tonne National Renewable Energy Centre (NAREC) in Blyth, as well as a 500-tonne contract at Ercall Wood Technology College in Telford and a 400-tonne job at Daventry Academy, Northampton.