A HEALTH and safety specialist company has bucked the trend in the last year by opening a new branch in Bradford and taking on five staff members.

MNA Group Limited has expanded its reach and expertise at a time when many businesses have struggled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The firm - which was launched in 2005 and has its headquarters in Goole - chose Bradford as the location to open its second ever office in Autumn 2020.

The office is based off Challenge Way, in Cutler Heights.

MNA Group offers working at height solutions, building and construction, and health and safety services and training courses.

Its teams are working on projects right across the country, but most recently the company won a contract for maintaining the roofs of 20 schools across Greater Manchester.

Many of its customers are located along the M62 corridors and MNA Group revealed this is why it selected Bradford for its new office.

In the last few weeks, the firm has also employed Fhiona MacKenzie-Kerry as Internal Sales for the working at height solutions arms.

She will be based in Bradford and is the fifth new staff member to join MNA Group in the past year.

This includes the appointment of Richard Bloodworth as Sales Director, at the back-end of 2020.

He has brought a wealth of experience in the roofing and cladding sector, which means that MNA Group can now offer roof safety systems, roof access ladders and industrial roofing services.

Mr Bloodworth said: “Fhiona and I have worked together previously and I know she’ll be a fantastic addition to the team.

"She has a wealth of experience in sales, as well as great connections and an extensive knowledge of working at height solutions, systems and fixings, which will really benefit MNA Group as we continue to grow and evolve.”

The business was set-up by directors, Mark Newman and Dave Rose.

Mr Rose explained it was hard to predict how the global pandemic would impact the company, but this was not the first time it had experienced an external crisis.

He said: “2020 was a difficult year for so many businesses and, like most people, we really didn’t know how we’d be affected by a global pandemic.

"However, looking back, we launched the business three years before the recession of 2008 and somehow managed to keep it growing.

"I think the fact that we’ve managed to replicate that during this current period of economic uncertainty is down to our ability to identify new opportunities to develop the services that we offer and because we pride ourselves on the amount of repeat business we get from our customers.”

Meanwhile, Mr Newman expressed his delight at being able to add Mr Bloodworth to the team and said this has allowed MNA Group to further diversify its offering.

He added: “We work with customers across an ever-growing range of sectors and have recently added the education sector to our portfolio through our work in Greater Manchester.

"Much of the company’s growth has taken place in the last seven years since we moved to our current headquarters in Goole.

"Today, the various strands of the business allow plenty of opportunities to cross-sell our services to existing customers, as well as targeting new business.”