Lisburn-based Charlesworth Engineering is expanding after securing new orders following a Buyer Engagement Event earlier this year, organised by Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council (in partnership with Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce).

The company specialises in the design, manufacture and installation of stainless-steel process pipework, vessels and tanks for customers in the brewing, distilling, food and beverage, chemical and pharmaceutical industries.

New orders from Ryobi and Camlin have enabled it to invest in new CNC water-jet cutting equipment.

The company currently has nine members of staff (including apprentices employed in partnership with South East Regional College); it plans to add three more, plus one more apprentice.

Managing director Roy Charlesworth said (www.charlesworthengineering.com): “As a company, we not only invest in machinery but also in our workforce. We work with new apprentices — the next generation of engineers.

“They are the future, and we should do more as an industry to employ more.”

Allan Ewart, chairman of the City Council’s development committee, said: “It is encouraging to see that these Council-led procurement events are providing opportunities for local companies, in terms of growing and diversifying their business.”

Charlesworth Engineering works closely with Ulster-based Environmental Street Furniture, which exports stainless-steel bollards to Dubai and provides planters to the University of Ulster.

The company has also been a long-standing supplier of stainless-steel process pipework to Coca-Cola HBC, and it has recently sealed a deal to provide a new plant for Classic Mineral Water in Lurgan.