A DARLINGTON-based engineering firm is building a strong future with the win of some impressive contracts in the Middle East and South America.

Cleveland Bridge has been awarded contracts valued at more than £10m only weeks after completing a management buyout of £8.4m from Anglo-Norwegian owners, Kvaerner.

The firm has triumphed over strong international competition to win a contract to build a large- scale petrochemical complex at Ruwais in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. It will also develop a major retail complex and construct five ethylene cracking furnaces in Abu Dhabi.

And, as revealed by The Northern Echo on June 6, in South America Cleveland Bridge will assist in the multi-million dollar regeneration of the Puerto Madero docks in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where it will build a hydraulic lifting bridge.

"This clutch of contract wins justifies the team's decision to negotiate a management buyout and demonstrates that the industry has retained its confidence in us and is being fully supportive," said Tony Rae, chief executive officer at Cleveland Bridge.

"A combination of excellent global market conditions and more than 122 years of experience will allow Cleveland Bridge to realise its full potential."

Other projects being worked on at present include the new Boyne bridge that will help link Dublin with Belfast and project management of a £118m suspension bridge across the Carquinez river in California - the first suspension bridge to be built in the US in more than 35 years.