The next time someone takes a seat at the doctor's there is a chance the furniture involved was Bradford-built.

A company started by two friends has become a leading player in the design and manufacture of the fixtures and fittings found in GPs' surgeries and health centres, just two years after starting out.

Sunflower Medical not only not only makes healthcare furniture such as beds, treatment and examination couches, cabinets and chairs, they also plan, design and install it.

With a turnover of £600,000, the company based at Headway Business Centre, Knowles Lane, is expanding to meet demand. Co-director Marc Byrnes said they were also planning to add a business development worker.

Mr Byrnes and co-director Tim Wright started the business two years ago, having worked in the industry for a number of years.

Mr Byrnes has a sales and marketing background, while Mr Wright is the product developer. Their core customers are GP surgeries and health centres and over time they have established themselves with leading distributors of so-called 'non-invasive medical equipment' such as Huntleigh Medical, which carry a large number of Sunflower products in their catalogue. A feature of their service is the 3D Solid CAD modelling system which allows potential clients to see what their rooms will look like from every angle, prior to installation.

Keen to increase its exposure on the internet, Sunflower recently took advice from Business Link's David Robertson-Brown, who helped update the website and worked to improve the company's presence in search engines.

'Sunflower Medical' now scores highly on a variety of web searches.

Mr Byrnes said he had received a lot of help from Business Link and West Yorkshire Ventures, which provides support to new business ideas.

Mr Byrnes said challenges they faced as a new business included managing the growth, bringing in resources at the right time and having the finances to do it.

He said they were optimistic about future growth.