THE newly-created contracts division at Accrington-based luxury kitchen specialist Stuart Frazer has passed the £1million mark of sales in its first year of operations.

And with £2.8million of contracts already secured with leading North West developers, it is looking to triple its turnover in 2002.

Managing director Mark Harrison invested more than £150,000 to set up the contracts division, which is headed by Belinda Sewell, in January last year.

The company is now picking up prestige contracts to supply kitchens to some of the most luxurious housing developments in the region.

Mark opened the first Stuart Frazer shop in Accrington 27 years ago and now has additional showrooms in Preston and Prestwich, specialising in the SieMatic range.

"We have always had a steady flow of contract work," he said. "As the business has grown, it became a natural progression for us to do more and so we set up the contracts division as a separate entity. Since then, the level of demand has overwhelmed us.

"Belinda's appointment was a great coup for the business as she brings a wealth of experience, having worked with the SieMatic brand for almost all her career."

Stuart Frazer is now working on what are regarded as the highest specification penthouses in Manchester's Whitworth Street West scheme. The company is designing and installing 22 kitchens in the apartments that will be sold for up to £1million each.

Other big name developers putting their confidence in the business are Crosby Homes, Gleeson Homes and Edgerton Estates. The work varies between individually-designed kitchens to large-scale projects such as 274 kitchens for Countryside Residential's Booth Street development in Manchester.

Belinda is predicting a good future for the business, based on industry trends. "We are finding that more and more developers are looking to install high quality kitchens to differentiate their sales pitch," she said.

"Kitchen choice and fitting can be a time and resource-draining necessity for most developers which is where we can help.

"We can offer a complete measure, design and installation service to developers or directly with their potential purchasers to save them the hassle and let them focus on their core business."