A COMPANY helping keep the traffic moving is on the road to success – despite the impact of the credit crunch.

Consulting engineering firm Sanderson Associates, based in purpose-built offices at Grange Moor, is recruiting extra staff as it sees an increase in demand for its expertise covering highways, traffic and transportation matters.

The firm, led by managing director Alison France, already has 46 employees, but is in the middle of a campaign to recruit 11 more staff. It has appointed six and is seeking another five experienced highways engineers to meet its target.

Said Alison: “It has been a bit quieter recently, but we are beginning to see plans coming through from some major construction companies. It was not that long ago that construction work simply stopped. The signs are that it is starting to move again, which is very positive.”

Sanderson Associates provides a reliable barometer of the state of the economy. At a time of high consumer spending, developments such as fitness centres and restaurants featured heavily on the books. Today, with money tight, discount retailers are a feature on the workloads.

The company’s work includes advising on the traffic aspects of developments ranging from major roads and motorway junctions, shopping centres and industrial estates to access issues surrounding a new house or garage.

It operates as far afield as Scotland, Land’s End and the Isle of Man – providing services including traffic assessments and surveys, giving expert evidence in court cases and at public inquiries as well as advising on issues such as street lighting, speed limits and car parking.

The company was founded in 1987 in a small office in Holmfirth before moving first to Scissett and then to Waterloo. In 2004, the firm opened an office in Lincoln and in 2006 head office was switched to Jubilee Way, Grange Moor.

Alison joined Sanderson Associates as a traffic engineer when the firm was based at Scissett. She had previously worked for the highways and engineering directorates of the former West Yorkshire County Council, Leeds City Council and Kirklees Council.

She attended Holmfirth High School and Huddersfield Technical College, where she went to take her ONC and HNC in civil engineering. She became a director of Sanderson Associates in 1997 and was appointed managing director in 2005.

In Huddersfield, Sanderson Associates has worked on schemes including the Morrisons supermarket development at Waterloo, the proposed Kirklees College campus at Chapel Hill and even a new car park for the Three Acres restaurant at Shelley.

Other projects include housing developments in Birkby, Oakes and Lindley as well as schemes for Leeds-Bradford Airport and Calderdale Royal Hospital in Halifax.