This is how a Harrogate manufacturer helped in the extraordinary effort to build London's coronavirus hospital

BioClad supplies hygienic antimicrobial wall-cladding for use in healthcare and food preparation settings, and has seen demand soar after the Government announced the creation of several critical care field hospitals – known as NHS Nightingale Hospitals – around England as part of its response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The NHS Nightingale Hospital at Harrogate Convention Centre opens today, Tuesday.

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Founder and managing director of BioClad Lindsay McKenzie told this newspaper: "We put in a very heavy forecast because we could see the way the government was planning. So we bought in about 40 per cent more stock than we usually would do. Cumulatively, that figure has now gone up to about 70 per cent.

"We've also been asked to tender for work in a few export markets, mainly in India and the Middle East."

He added: "There's an immense pride throughout the company that we're able to do what we're doing. We have to face up to this thing to support the NHS, and then hopefully also have a business left at the end of it – we want to be able to keep all our employees."

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BioClad has won many awards since it was founded in 1996. In 2017 it won a Queen's Award for Enterprise in the Innovation category in 2017 and the following year was named in the Sunday Times Lloyds SME Export Track 100.

Last year it was named Best Medium-Sized Company in our own Excellence in Business Awards.

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