The Caring Caretaker is a company that’s grown from one to a team of 41 and is now, with grant support from the County Durham Growth Fund, in the process of taking its business journey to the next stage, moving to much larger premises and creating a further 10 jobs, cementing its long-term future here in County Durham.
Sarah Slaven
Managing Director, Business Durham
A fast-growing cleaning services company is to create 10 new jobs as part of a move to bigger offices to support its long-term growth plans.
AAA Caring Caretaker, known as The Caring Caretaker, has been based at Aycliffe Business Park since it was set up by Richard Tucker in 2015.
However, the family business had undergone a period of significant growth and Richard was keen to find larger premises to support continued expansion and to house the additional staff that he needs to recruit.
He identified a 0.8-acre site at Bowburn Industrial Estate North, which was perfect for his ambitious plans.
Having worked with Business Durham in the past, through the Routes to Contract Success programme which is led by the Durham Business Opportunities Programme team, Richard was made aware of the County Durham Growth Fund and subsequently made an application for grant support.
The Caring Caretaker was awarded £100,000 from the fund towards the relocation to Bowburn.
Richard, who was awarded an MBE for his services to business, the armed forces, charities and for supporting people with disabilities or mental health conditions into secure employment, said: “We now need not only office space but importantly the storage facilities to accommodate our increased diversification.
“Alongside the cleaning and caretaker services the business offers, we also source and distribute PPE equipment for the NHS and on the back of the Covid pandemic, that side of the business has grown massively.
“The facility we’re going to be creating at Bowburn will enable us to develop office space for the growing team, which will include 10 new personnel who we’ll be recruiting as part of the County Durham Growth Fund project, alongside warehousing space and land left over to further develop as the business grows.
“We’re also renting out some of the office space to a tenant we’re lining up which gives us another revenue stream.”
The Caring Caretaker provides cleaning and caretaker services to companies and organisations across the North East and Yorkshire, including the NHS, PD Ports, Hartlepool Marina, Esh Housing, and the MOD.
Currently, the business employs 41 people including 17 ex-armed forces personnel, nine of which have unseen disabilities.
The County Durham Growth Fund is managed by Business Durham in partnership with UMi and is supported by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). All successful grant applications are appraised by UNW LLP, an independent firm of chartered accountants and business advisers.
Sarah Slaven, Managing Director of Business Durham, said: “The Caring Caretaker is a company that’s grown from one to a team of 41 and is now, with grant support from the County Durham Growth Fund, in the process of taking its business journey to the next stage, moving to much larger premises and creating a further 10 jobs, cementing its long-term future here in County Durham.”
The Caring Caretaker has secured a number of accreditations and awards since it launched, including IS0 9001 and is working towards ISO 14001 and 4,501 standards; the MoD Employer’s Accreditation Scheme, Gold standard; and was the winner of the London Stock Exchange category for Business Growth at the Armed Forces “Soldiering on Awards” 2021.
It has also secured the Disability Committed employer status, Level 2, and is in the process of going for Level 3 status, of which there are only around 50 companies in the UK that have been awarded the status.
Simon Allen, investment centre director at UMI, added: “The Caring Caretaker is a real success story here in County Durham and it’s also wonderful to see a growing company like them taking the opportunity to employ ex-military veterans, which without the support of someone like Richard might otherwise struggle to find or sustain employment.”
Neville Bearpark, UNW’s Head of Grant Support Services, said: “The County Durham Growth Fund is here to support ambitious companies like The Caring Caretaker and help facilitate their development. It’s superb to see a business grow from the ground up and expand to meet demand, bringing with it job creation and extra revenue streams.”
Some of the businesses we've helped
Finance Durham
The benefit of speaking to Maven about the Finance Durham fund is the flexibility of the fund on offer, which means we can invest from a small amount up to several millions via equity or debt.
Michael Vassallo
Maven Capital Partners
Power Roll
Maven helped us in terms of facilities by introductions into Business Durham, and also the funding opportunities here in County Durham, which really did help pull a package of measures together, which made the premises we're in today, Jade Business Park, that compelling proposition.
Neil Spann
CEO
TinkleGuard
For anyone looking to develop their business idea, DCI provides the resources and community to make that journey less daunting and more successful.
Angela Davidson
Founder
Empowerment Learning Ltd
The DCI programme has been fantastic. The personal support, mentoring, and different perspectives from the cohort have validated my belief that what I'm doing is correct and has a real impact.
Kelly Walton
Founder
%20-%20Medium2.jpg)
Reign Accounting Ltd
The support and friendships I've developed through DCI have been invaluable. Learning from other start-ups and having a community to lean on has made a significant difference in my entrepreneurial journey
Nicole Collins
Founder
AImploy
The DCI program has been instrumental in our journey. The networking opportunities and support from DCI contributors have been invaluable in shaping AImploy into the company it is today.
Arjun Cheruvally
Co-founder
Marmax Products
We have been delighted with the support that Business Durham and their partners have provided our company and with additional funding, we hope to further develop our working practices to safeguard our existing business and expand our capabilities to meet new customer demands and expectations.
Dave Johnson
Managing Director
Redditch Medical
NETPark is a fantastic place to do business in terms of facilities, potential for growth and for collaboration.
Steve Brown
Managing Director
Tekgem
The facilities and ancillary business services here are second to none and the campus feel of the science park suits the culture within the company.
Ian Gemski
Director
SEEDS
The ecosystem in NETPark is just right for us; SEEDS first came here because of its partnership work with the CPI and now our vision is to have a busy lab facility developing various applications and licensing them out to companies.
Peter Chalder-Wood
Head of Strategic Partnerships
Magnitude Biosciences
We expect to more than double the team in Sedgefield to 45 over the next two to three years, with a larger commercial team allowing us to expand our global footprint.
Dr Fozia Saleem
CEO
Teescraft Engineering
Teescraft Engineering has been a major employer in County Durham for a number of years and I’m delighted that, with grant support through the County Durham Growth Fund, the company is embarking on ambitious plans to significantly expand.
Hazel Sykes
Business Durham
ATT Fabrications
We knew we had the space to add new machines which would not only improve productivity and efficiency but also allow us to add new products and processes, the County Durham Growth Fund helped this happen.
Andrew Devlin
ATT Fabrications
AAA Caring Caretaker
The Caring Caretaker is a company that’s grown from one to a team of 41 and is now, with grant support from the County Durham Growth Fund, in the process of taking its business journey to the next stage, moving to much larger premises and creating a further 10 jobs, cementing its long-term future here in County Durham.
Sarah Slaven
Managing Director, Business Durham
Renovo Solutions
We’ve been incredibly lucky to have secured financial investment from Business Durham which really has been crucial to the growth of the business and fast-tracked our plans in such a short space of time.
Antony Gray
Founder
Ashgarth Engineering
The grant we’ve received from the County Durham Growth Fund has been invaluable to us as without it we probably would have only been able to purchase one machine.
Niall Ash
Director
TO Mounter
We were looking at investing in new machinery which would enable us to expand our client base, and our accountant mentioned the County Durham Growth Fund to us.
Lisa Mounter
General Manager
Creator
Investing in this additional space means we now own our future – we’re not in anyone else’s hands and that’s a fantastic position to be in.
Ryan Carter
Founder
E Catering
We took on more space than we needed to, allowing for our planned growth over the next five years, however with the grant support we’ve had from the County Durham Growth Fund, we are now looking at achieving our projections in the next three years.
Reece Ingham
Head of Finance
Tridonic
It has been a testing couple of years due to the pandemic and this support has been invaluable. Going forwards, we intend to invest further in technology and skills to strengthen our position in this competitive marketplace.
Ben Kennard
Manufacturing and Supply Chain Manager
Newton Press
We’ve got a great team now and looking ahead this year, for us it’s about building on what we have, and then expanding with new orders and further investment at the right times to propel this business forward in this new space.
Stuart Howarth
Sales Director
Get In Touch
Business Durham is the business support service for Durham County Council, helping to deliver more and better jobs and a strong competitive economy.
Contact our friendly team for help with your business.