THE construction products division of a Bradford-based chemicals group has done a distribution deal with a company in Northern Ireland.

Oscrete Construction Products, a division of Christeyns UK Ltd, has appointed Adcrete Ltd to cover Northern Ireland and Ireland.

Bradford-based Oscrete makes a wide range of innovative concrete admixtures for the precast and ready-mix markets and the precast concrete, ready-mix and the ready-to-use mortar industries across the UK.

The new partnership will enable Oscrete to improve its penetration into the Irish concrete markets using Adcrete’s local technical and commercial support to existing and new customers .

Based in Lisburn, near Belfast, Adcrete was launched earlier this year by directors Gus Vaughan, Pat Ellison and Jonathan Mooney who have experience in both concrete production and testing.

Danny Kilgallon, Oscrete operations director, said: “We envisage an exciting future in partnering Adcrete in this venture. Oscrete has a reputation for providing excellence in technical service and customer support and as such we feel the partnership with Adcrete is a perfect fit. Both companies continually strive to develop products that add value and enable customers to stay ahead of the game.”

Meanwhile, staff at Christeyn UK’s Bradford head office are being offered monthly yoga classes as part of the firm’s staff welfare programme .

Christeyns is offering all head office employees the chance to join the one hour sessions . The yoga classes have been introduced on top of free fruit and complimentary stress-relieving massage sessions.

The yoga classes are run by local instructor Palvinder Kaur, who teaches Dru Yoga, which is designed to be practised by people of all abilities, fitness levels and ages.

Sarah Dutton, HR manager, said: “We have a variety of employees attending the sessions from manufacturing based roles through to technical and office based and they are proving to be a great success.

“In general, the health benefits experienced by employees attending the sessions are the easing of back pain or physical discomfort, strengthening of both balance and focus, and development of good posture. Furthermore, yoga teaches employees to deal with their emotions, through developing a calm and peaceful mind and body.”

Christeyns has introduced the Dru yoga sessions as to reduce the onset of muscle or joint pain and stress, which are common causes of absenteeism in the industry.

Sarah Dutton added: “The firm also recognises that employees do not always take the time outside of their working lives to focus on themselves and their welfare, whether it be due to family commitments or not having time. Therefore it was important for Christeyns to find time to run the sessions within the working day.

“The firm continually strives to improve its products and services and knows that to do this, it must have a happy, healthy and productive workforce. Employee welfare is a very important feature of daily life at Christeyns and as such is supported from the top down.”