TOWERING scaffolding encasing the new Wetherspoon in the old town hall in Wellington is providing welcome business for one local company.

Wellington Scaffolding is heavily involved in work to turn the building into a fashionable pub and restaurant, a development which is costing more than £2 million.

The firm’s boss is Kevin Wendt who said yesterday: “It is a nice prestige job for us right in the centre of the town.

“A lot is going on in Wellington and we are also involved in the Cades Farm development and other projects in the area.

“I have 35 people working for the company and we can take on some major jobs. Only recently we worked on Exeter Cathedral.

“Wetherspoon uncovered asbestos after starting work on the town hall and we have had to make the scaffolding higher and to put a temporary roof over the building. Sometimes these jobs change by the very nature of what builders find when renovating a building.

“We have one team working outside the building and one inside, although not always at the same time.”

Mr Wendt, who is also managing director of Abacus Construction, a separate company based at Ham, added: “There is a lot of building going on in the construction industry around Wellington.

“A lot of new houses are being built and this has obviously meant more work for us.”

n Wellington Scaffolding has its offices and yard at Greenham and is ‘pricing for a job at Wellington Monument’. This may prompt conjecture about work being done on repairing the monument shortly.

n The Iron Duke – the name chosen by readers of the WWN – will officially open on Tuesday, August 30. Its opening was put back six weeks after the asbestos was found.