BRADFORD-BASED information technology security company ECSC Group PLC has announced details of further expansion plans which are being supported by a Bradford Council scheme to help local businesses.

The company, established in 2000, has plans for future growth and is planning a further expansion of its workforce to manage its anticipated increase in sales income.

To enable this projected growth ECSC has just signed the lease on 9,200 square feet of extra office space, which is adjacent to their existing premises, on Listerhills Science Park, Bradford.

Directors at the company are also recruiting five additional staff to their Bradford head office, to cover a variety of specialist high skilled roles including developers, testers and analysts to manage this growth. The expansion has been supported by Bradford Council’s City Centre Growth Scheme, which aims to support new and existing businesses to create jobs and stimulate investment and growth in the city centre. Business Rate rebate incentives for eligible businesses are available within the growth zone, worth up to £16k per job. Businesses must be creating new jobs through expansion or relocation.

The company has been awarded a Business Rate Rebate of £29,000 for March 2019 to December 2020.

ECSC Group PLC provides a range of information technology security services to all sectors, from small businesses to global organisations, FTSE 100 companies and the public sector including the military.

The latest financial accounts saw revenues increase by 30 per cent to £5.4m including a 50 per cent increase in revenue from managed services. This increased emphasis on managed services as opposed to consultancy provides greater income security.

The company has its head office in Bradford and also has offices in Leeds and London as well as in Brisbane, Australia. ECSC currently employs 78 staff worldwide, with 37 staff based at the Bradford head office.

Lucy Sharp, Managing Director said: “Bradford has always been a great place for us to do business, and it's encouraging to see the number of initiatives and developments appearing in the city. We're incredibly grateful for the support we receive from Bradford Council and their rebate scheme. This support has allowed us to push on with our plans for expansion, having recently signed a 10 year deal for additional premises on the Listerhills Science Park.

This increase in space gives us further capacity to increase headcount in a number of specialist roles within our Bradford based Security Operations Centre.

“With our Head Office in Bradford we benefit from so much more than lower rent costs compared to other major cities, namely our close proximity to Bradford University allows us to forge strong ties there, hosting a number of guest lectures, which often leads to recruitment opportunities - meaning we get the pick of the talent.

“The ease of access to the major motorways and transport links means nothing is ever too far away, meaning we can easily be on client sites quickly.

“We're often asked why Bradford - but this has been the home of ECSC for almost 20 years and it doesn't make sense to us to be anywhere else.”

Shelagh O’Neill, Assistant Director of Economic Development at Bradford Council said: “We were delighted when ECSC Group contacted us about their expansion plans and after careful scrutiny of their funding application and their business case we were pleased to be able to award them funding through our City Centre Growth Scheme.

“The scheme has proved extremely popular and has encouraged businesses in the city centre to grow and expand. Due to the success of the city centre scheme we have now extended the scheme across the whole of the district with our District Growth Scheme.

“These two schemes are helping to drive economic growth for both the city centre and the whole of the district.

“We wish the company every success with their plans for the future.”

Since its launch in November 2012, a total of 239 businesses have been supported by the City Centre Growth Scheme. Meaning that 98 vacant properties have been brought back into use and 643 jobs have been created.

The District Growth Scheme covers the whole district and has three main priorities; supporting investment in new large scale developments; bringing listed buildings back into use for commercial purposes and supporting businesses to relocate or expand in the district’s town centres of Keighley, Shipley, Bingley and Ilkley.