A RAPIDLY-GROWING North Yorkshire interior design firm has landed one of its biggest NHS contracts so far.

Chameleon Business Interiors, of Howden, has been appointed to furnish part of the redevelopment of the St Bartholomew and Royal London hospital complex for a six-figure sum.

The deal comes hot on the heels of Chameleon's latest project - to furnish another of Britain's multi-purpose one-stop shops for health care in London, again for a six-figure sum.

The Boleyn Medical Centre, part of the Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT) partnership between Newham Primary Care Trust in London and several private sector partners, is one of 42 to be opened across the U.K.

Chameleon, which has a turnover of £2 million, carried out the project management at the Boleyn centre, and also supplied and installed all of the desking, seating and storage, plus the provision of furniture for the conference and training facilities.

Shaun Watts, Chameleon's managing director, said: "This was a very good project for us to be involved in, as the Boleyn centre is the second of its kind we've worked on in the London area.

"Our experience in fitting out the UK's very first LIFT centre, together with other major fit-outs for NHS Trusts, undoubtedly helped this project to go very smoothly."

Chameleon earned its status as a preferred NHS bidder by furnishing the new Golden Jubilee Wing at London's King's College Hospital, the new Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh and the Atkinson Morley Wing at London's St George's Hospital.

Mr Watts, a designer, who started the venture with construction expert Clive Ferris in 1998 now employs eight people at its office in Merlin House, Vicar Lane, Howden.

Updated: 11:03 Friday, October 28, 2005