ENGINEERING services group Amec is launching a recruitment drive to fill hundreds of jobs across the UK.

The industrial division, which has its headquarters in Darlington, has won a string of lucrative contracts this year.

It is recruiting people for high-end jobs including project managers, engineers, and quantity surveyors, and is expected to create dozens of jobs in Darlington, and hundreds across the UK - although it could not say exactly how many jobs would be created in the region.

The company already employs 400 in its industrial and support services divisions in Darlington, and a further 100 engineers at its site in Wallsend, although it has now mothballed its fabrication yard on the Tyne.

Last week, Amec secured contracts in the chemical sector worth more than £100m - but these are not directly linked to the job creation.

A spokesman said: "It is not specifically down to the chemical contracts, but more down to the fact that the industrial division has had a very good few months of securing work across the country in the industrial process area. It is building up a database so it can recruit the very best people for the jobs."

Other recruitment drives are taking place in Scotland, Wales, and the North-West.

Earlier this year, Amec's Darlington division has won a £22m contract with the National Grid to refurbish overhead power lines in the East Midlands, using a novel system which can replace electrical wires while keeping the communication cables open.

The work was the latest in a number of National Grid Transco contracts as it embarks on a UK-wide upgrade of the grid over the next five years.

It has also won a £25m contract with Shell to design and deliver a gas storage facility, which will receive gas from a North Sea pipeline in Norfolk.

A few months ago, Amec revealed details of a £54m gas storage contract as a further foray into gas storage, seen as a growth market in the UK as North Sea gas stocks dwindle.

Amec employs 44,000 people in more than 40 countries, generating about £5bn a year.