Ministers welcome 130 jobs and £19m PPE contract for Bangor firm, Denroy

Economy Minister Diane Dodds and Health Minister Robin Swann has visited Denroy in Bangor to welcome the creation of 130 jobs and a £19.5millon PPE contract with Health and Social Care in Northern Ireland (HSCNI).
Health Minister Robin Swann and Economy Minister Diane Dodds with Chief Executive Officer of Denroy Group, Kevin McNamee, Chief Executive of Invest NI, Kevin Holland and the Chair of Denroy Group, John RaineyHealth Minister Robin Swann and Economy Minister Diane Dodds with Chief Executive Officer of Denroy Group, Kevin McNamee, Chief Executive of Invest NI, Kevin Holland and the Chair of Denroy Group, John Rainey
Health Minister Robin Swann and Economy Minister Diane Dodds with Chief Executive Officer of Denroy Group, Kevin McNamee, Chief Executive of Invest NI, Kevin Holland and the Chair of Denroy Group, John Rainey

Economy Minister Diane Dodds and Health Minister Robin Swann has visited Denroy in Bangor to welcome the creation of 130 jobs and a £19.5millon PPE contract with Health and Social Care in Northern Ireland (HSCNI).

The major new contract will see Denroy manufacture and supply FFP3 masks to HSCNI from its new manufacturing facility in Bangor. To support Denroy to deliver the contract, Invest NI has offered the company £1.5m of support towards 130 jobs.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Economy Minister Diane Dodds, said: “Over the last 50 years, the Denroy Group has become synonymous with innovation through its cutting edge product development and manufacturing of specialist aerospace components and award winning hair products. Due to Covid-19, there has been an unprecedented global demand for PPE. Very early on in the pandemic Denroy took decisive action and repurposed to manufacture PPE. The positive impact of this decision is clearly demonstrated by today’s announcement of new jobs and a contract that will provide PPE to our healthcare workers.

Quality technician Lisa McBride demonstrates Denroy products to Economy Minister Diane Dodds and Health Minister Robin Swann.  Chief Executive of Invest NI, Kevin Holland and Chief Executive Officer of Denroy Group, Kevin McNamee, watch onQuality technician Lisa McBride demonstrates Denroy products to Economy Minister Diane Dodds and Health Minister Robin Swann.  Chief Executive of Invest NI, Kevin Holland and Chief Executive Officer of Denroy Group, Kevin McNamee, watch on
Quality technician Lisa McBride demonstrates Denroy products to Economy Minister Diane Dodds and Health Minister Robin Swann. Chief Executive of Invest NI, Kevin Holland and Chief Executive Officer of Denroy Group, Kevin McNamee, watch on

“The company has moved quickly and has already recruited all 130 jobs and hopes to grow further. These new roles will contribute £3.7million in additional annual salaries to the local economy. Not only is this great news for the Ards and North Down Borough Council area, but also for the wider NI economy.”

Health Minister Robin Swann, continued: “At the outset, the Covid-19 pandemic caused us to think very differently about how to tackle many issues. We had to urgently consider how best to meet the challenge of protecting our health and social care staff while safely treating Covid-19 patients.

“The demand for PPE in the first surge of the pandemic placed tremendous strain on the health service in NI. My procurement officials put a call out to local manufacturing, with Invest NI, to support the supply of critical PPE items. I am delighted that Denroy answered this call, particularly with a proposal for a new high grade respirator mask for those staff on the frontline treating Covid patients.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“To develop a brand new product, create prototypes and have it tested, certified and considered fit for purpose within six months is quite remarkable. While I applaud Denroy for its innovation and vision, I must also recognise the work of key health staff who worked closely with Denroy innovators to refine the mask and robustly test new prototypes to get this mask in production.”

Denroy’s FFP3 single use mask was designed by the company’s Aerospace Engineers and filters 99% of particles from the air including the small respiratory droplets where coronavirus can be found. The masks will be used by frontline workers across Northern Ireland, from intensive care staff to community care staff.

CEO of Denroy Group, Kevin McNamee, continued: “We are proud of our staff and of our ingenuity over the last year, and the contribution we made during a time of national crisis. As well as helping with the emergency need for PPE, we have invested over £3million in a new manufacturing facility, created over 130 jobs and secured this £19.5m contract with HSCNI.

“Our plans are to grow our business further, create more jobs and build on this contract in our target markets of Republic of Ireland, Great Britain and the United States in the coming year. We have drawn on the extensive expertise of the team at Invest NI and we’re very grateful for their support.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Invest NI has offered Denroy Group Ltd £1.5m of support towards the creation of all 130 jobs, which includes a repayable loan of £900,000. The company has already created all of the new jobs.

Kevin Holland, CEO of Invest NI, added: “Denroy has shown ingenuity and resilience with its move into the manufacturing of PPE. We have been pleased to provide a range of support to the company throughout the pandemic, from advice on standards for masks to assistance towards the new jobs. We look forward to helping it secure new export markets and I know our in-market teams are already working hard to support the company to achieve this.”

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper whenever you are able to do so.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper when you can safely.

You can also enjoy unlimited access to the best news from across Northern Ireland and the UK by subscribing to newsletter.co.uk

With a digital subscription, you can read more than five articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit https://www.newsletter.co.uk/subscriptions now to sign up.

Thank you