CUMBRIAN property firm the Prospus Group has been won its first contract in London.

The company - which has offices at Warwick Bridge, outside Carlisle, and Kirkby Stephen, in Eden - has been commissioned to create an extension to the Alpine Club's building in Charlotte Road, Shoreditch.

The Alpine Club is a mountaineering club and was the first of its kind in the world.

This project - described as a "vertical extension" - will involve adding two storeys to the top of the organisation's building to create extra space for its archive, office space and a bar and restaurant.

Alistair Fell, a director of the group, said he was delighted that the firm was making inroads into the capital.

"We were introduced to it by a project manager who we have known for a while and he is a member of the Alpine Club - when he heard that the project was coming up he put our name forward," he added.

Mr Fell pointed out though that this will not be an easy job.

He said: "This is a big project, working within the setting of listed buildings will be tough and fitting a two-storey extension onto something is not straightforward so it will use every aspect of what we do."

Prospus has two other directors alongside Mr Fell, Derek Mitchell and Tom Woof.

The company has its head office in Edinburgh but works primarily in Cumbria and both Mr Fell and Mr Woof are based in the county.

It was set up last year and specialises in both housing and commercial property developments on land which has been overlooked in the past.

So far it has helped secure planning permission for a new branch of Spar in Kirkby Stephen, on the site of an old filling station, as well as Cumbria's first battery storage facility in Bigrigg.

Alongside its new project in London, Prospus has also been appointed by both Keswick town council and Morland parish council to deliver neighbourhood plans, which will see the company work with local communities to work out future development policies.

Mr Fell said: "I think this is really good, alongside what we are doing in London this shows the breadth and depth of what we are doing. Even though we are working in the south we are still working in Cumbria and we are fixed here."

Mr Woof added: Neighbourhood planning is now an integral part of the planning system and helps communities get tailored policies that meet the needs of their area and meet the challenges that district-wide policies can’t address."