A coatings company is tackling its very own Mission Impossible by taking on the job of painting the Forth Rail Bridge.

The structure is infamous for being so big that as soon as painting is finished at one end, workmen have to start with a fresh coat at the other.

Protective coatings and construction services company Pyeroy Group been awarded a £1.5m contract for the job.

The work forms part of a rolling civil engineering and structural refurbishment programme being undertaken by main contractor Balfour Beatty for Network Rail.

Pyeroy has secured a 45-week contract for the southern stretch of the bridge that includes grit-blasting and re-painting work on a number of key beams and structural steelwork on the South Queensferry cantilever.

Although the work forms part of a ten-year refurbishment plan for the bridge, contracts for re-painting particular areas are awarded annually. Pyeroy has worked on the bridge for the previous two years, re-painting nearly 15,000 metres of the structure.

One of the world's most distinctive structures, the 8,000ft-long bridge comprises three double cantilevers, linked by 350ft spans joined to the major structure of the bridge with pins.

The bridge incorporates 54,000 tons of steel held together by 6.5 million rivets - all of which need to be painted by hand.

Brendan Fitzsimons, director of the Pyeroy's industrial division, said: "The sheer size and scale of this job makes it hugely complex."

Pyeroy will have 25 workers on site out of its total workforce of 700.