The social housing specialist has moved from Gateshead to larger offices at Sunderland’s Doxford Park allowing it to take on extra staff left jobless in the fallout from Tolent’s collapse last week.

Nine new roles have been recruited into RE:GEN Group while 24 roles have been safeguarded with the creation of RE:GEN Solutions – a new solution-based subsidiary delivering an asbestos abatement and management service to the firms social housing clients.

Lee Francis, CEO of RE:GEN Group, said: “We outgrew our previous offices and have seen our headcount increase to over 150 in the space of two years, so we needed to find offices that were not only large enough but in a great location and closer to our clients.

“Following the announcement of Tolent last week, we wanted to reach out to those affected and see how we could help.

“I’m delighted we have been able to create these new roles within the business. It’s been a busy couple of weeks with the office move, recruitment of new staff and the launch of a new business, but our proudest achievement in all this has been our ability to act fast and save over 30 jobs for some of the best talent our region has to offer.

“We will continue to support as many customers, employees and supply chain as we possibly can.”

Former Tolent employee Anthony Wade has been appointed as managing director of RE:GEN Solutions.

He said: “It’s been a whirlwind week but we are over the moon with what we have achieved.

“Just last week the team were so distraught not knowing where the next mortgage payment would come from but now, they are faced with more hope than they ever imagined thanks to the RE:GEN Group.

“I’m really looking forward to establishing and growing RE:GEN Solutions not only within the social housing sector but all other types of industrial work.”