Mayflower Engineering — based in Darnall, a suburb of eastern Sheffield — is to create 11 new jobs and safeguard three more.

Established in 1974 and currently employing 72 people, the company secured £82,000 of funding from the local enterprise partnership. This will cover 20% of the cost of two new pieces of equipment — a plasma and flame cutter for cutting through mild steel and a press brake for bending pieces of steel or aluminium.

Managing director Kevan Bingham said: “Like many small, independent firms, we were hit hard by the recession; plans that we had in place for growth have had to be adapted and re-thought as a result. Although the company is now well on the way to recovery, what we badly need now is the money to enable us to put into place our new and innovative ideas, in order to modernise and expand even further.

This grant funding from the LEP will enable us to implement new ideas that have been formulated over the course of this year and — most importantly — enable us not only to save existing jobs but also to create new ones.”

James Newman, chairman of the Sheffield City Region LEP, said: “It is great news that Mayflower Engineering will be able to substantially upgrade its equipment and also recruit new staff thanks to our grant funding.

“The LEP bid for and secured this funding on a competitive basis. Since then, we have set about securing the maximum value for public money and helping as many companies as possible to invest and grow.”