A CARLISLE security firm is expanding after securing contracts in Glasgow and Newcastle.

Ultimate Security and Investigations, based at Parkhill Road, Kingstown, has provided security services at Denton Holme Student Village, Carlisle, since the 249-room student accommodation complex opened in 2012.

Derwent FM, the facilities management company that operates the site, was so impressed with the service that it awarded Ultimate further contracts at student accommodation sites in Glasgow and Newcastle.

Greg Kelly, managing director of Ultimate, said: “We're delighted. They said the range and standard of services we offered were exemplary and they wanted to use us for their new sites.”

Those services include manned guarding with an emphasis on a concierge role; out-of-hours emergency response; fire alarm, CCTV, and access control monitoring and maintenance; and fire-risk assessments.

Ultimate was established in 1996 by Noel Davidson.

Mr Kelly, his son-in-law, joined in 2003 after serving as a detective with Cumbria Constabulary for 15 years. Greg's brother Simon joined in 2013 following a 25-year career with Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service.

The business employs 50 people, five of whom have been taken on as a result of the new contracts.