A HIGH-RISE specialist is celebrating its most successful year to date.

Stone Technical Services (STS) of Darlington has revealed a 20 per cent year-on-year growth and has recruited five new staff.

The company, which is made up of five divisions – STS RopeSpec, STS Lightning Protection, STS Restoration, STS Maintenance and Facilities Management, and STS Conservation – has seen its turnover increase from around £2 million to over £3 million in the last 12 months and staff numbers approach 50.

The company attributes its growth to repeat business, its continued success in the North East working on a wide variety of projects, and entering new markets in areas including London and the South East and Scotland.

Recently, STS has secured new projects with the likes of the Highland Council in Scotland, Newcastle City Council, York Museums Trust, the Forth Road Bridge, Texaco, Mitchells and Butlers, Yorkshire Water and Westminster Central Hall.

Over the summer, the company also launched its new technical industrial wire rope division, STS RopeSpec, to cope with the growing number of contracts in that area.

Dave Stone, managing director, said: "The last year has been exceptionally trying for our sector but STS is bucking the trend and we are steadily growing. This is thanks to a combination of our multi-skilled team that we spend a lot of time training and recruiting to ensure we have the best people, and also a wide-ranging client base that now stretches the length and breadth of the country.

"We have managed to develop a stronghold in the very competitive London market and have retained a lot of work there. We’re now hoping to build on this year’s success as we go forward into 2017 with plans to develop all of our divisions further."

Brothers Dave and Grahame Stone established Stone Technical Services in 1998 and now have offices in Edinburgh, Stockport in Cheshire, Central London, and an HQ in Kellaw Road, Darlington.