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The opening of a £4m road improvement scheme on Teesside also marks a major milestone for the company who designed it.

Lynas Engineers, based at the Wilton Centre in Redcar, won the contract against tough competition from some of biggest civil engineering consultancies.

The business was only started less than four years ago by Rob Lynas when he and three colleagues lost their jobs after their employer closed its Teesside office.

Mr Lynas said:

“The four of us had a lot of experience and complementary skills from our time in civil engineering, so even though we were a new set up we were confident we could take on a big job.”

But even he has been pleasantly surprised at the rapid development of the business which carries his name.

All four of the founders were employed within the first six months.

They recruited an apprentice inside a year and now employ nine people.

As well as its work on the A66/A171 Cargo Fleet Junction improvement, Lynas Engineers has worked on other high profile contracts, including a project at Heathrow Airport, another major road development in Scunthorpe and a flood defence scheme to protect more than 300 homes on Middlesbrough’s Saltersgill Estate.

It is the innovative A66 “throughabout”, however, which the company hopes will firmly establish its name.

The “throughabout” is replacing the current congested roundabout, which has five exits and is used by 50,000 vehicles every weekday.

Lynas Engineers’ design sees the A66 extended straight through the centre of the roundabout, allowing the bulk of the traffic which uses it to travel straight on.

Improving this stretch of the road is a vital element in the development of the £400m Teesworks site.

 Mr Lynas said:

“The A66 route will become critical to Teesworks,” 

“In the coming years it’s going to get particularly busy. Our solution improves the capacity of the junction and keeps the traffic moving.”

Lynas Engineers director Wayne Farrell said the company is proud of delivering such a major project – which it has worked on since early 2018 – that will bring so many benefits.

“Sometimes when you work for the big consultancies you don’t get such a feeling of ownership and satisfaction,” he said.

“It’s also demonstrated that even though we’re a small team we have enough experience and capability to deliver these larger schemes.”

Rob Lynas launched the business from his home in October 2016.

It moved to the Wilton Centre three months later to be based near potential customers and benefit from the flexible office space it provides.

“It’s an ideal location for companies just starting out, but hoping to grow,” he said.

“There are lots of different types of offices here and a lot of room. We started with an office for two people and we’re now in our fourth.”

There are more than 60 businesses based at the Wilton Centre, employing 750 people.

The centre’s accommodation manager Claire Morton said Lynas Engineers’ story is typical of many of its occupiers.

“We provide the services and infrastructure which allows them to concentrate on their development,” she said.

“There are a lot of positive things happening in this area at the moment and we feel we’re in the right location to enable our businesses to explore all those possibilities.”

For more information about the Wilton Centre click here.

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Credit: NEEChamber