You can gauge how quickly Barrett is moving as a company just by sitting in its reception area.

Little over a year ago I visited the opening of the new headquarters on Cutler Heights Lane. On my return I found the foyer decorated with awards of all descriptions and sizes.

Not that this came as any surprise, given that the company was ranked as having the 30th fastest-growing profits of any private company in the UK - according to a list published in the Sunday Times Profit Track.

The bosses seem to share this lack of surprise and see the ranking as a symptom of the company's progress.

John Brennan, technical director, said that the business really began to take off in 2001. "Largely around then things started to get going," he said. "The year 2001 was the date of the last management buyout when we got rid of any venture capitalists involved."

Sue Sharples, financial director at Barrett, said: "We pride ourselves on our technical expertise. We put a lot of effort into bringing in the right sort of jobs for us and making sure that any new markets that we are moving into are going to be profitable for us."

The business specialises in designing and building structural steel skeletons for buildings. From its headquarters on Cutler Heights Lane, it has produced and modified steel skeletons for construction sites all over the country.

Barrett has made efforts to build and galvanise a national profile in terms of the contracts and projects it signs up to. However, of late the business has started work on a number of prestigious and high profile Bradford projects, much to the gratification of its employees. Barrett is working on site of three school developments in Bradford. The firm is working with the £400 million Building Schools for the Future programme to build the structures for brand new schools; Tong School, Salt Grammar School and Buttershaw School.

Also in Bradford, Barrett is engaged in building a car park for the Victoria Mills development in Shipley, a project spearheaded by Newmason Properties. Mrs Sharples said: "Each of the three schools are all completely different, each with their own very different designs and intricacies.

"It is very nice to be able to do local work. We very much are a national company and we have not done that much work in Yorkshire. It is nice now that we have the opportunity to do that."

Mrs Sharples says the firm has 20 projects on its books and that it works on 40 to 50 schemes a year.

The capacity was increased by development of its new headquarters which opened last year. The new warehouse development cost £1 million to complete and is used to store £28 million of steel. The new complex, next door to its old facility on Cutler Heights Lane, features drilling and sawing equipment. Using plasma technology, the accuracy of drilling and sawing has been improved. As well as speeding up production, the technology has provided a vital step in Barrett's latest target - minimising its environmental impact.