THE company that built the Sydney Harbour Bridge has won three major bridge contracts in China, worth more than £2m.

Dorman Long Technology (DLT), based in Darlington, will work as subcontractors on the record-breaking bridges, marking a milestone in its expansion into East Asia.

Workers will carry out the detailed engineering on the ChaoTianMen arch bridge, and also the sub-contract on erecting the 1,325-tonne steel span of the Shibanpo Bridge.

DLT will also design complex parts for the Sutong cable bridge project, in Nantong, near Shanghai.

Both the 1,088m-Sutong cable bridge and the ChaoTianMen arch bridge will be the world's longest span bridges of their type.

Some of the components will be manufactured in Europe and shipped to China, where they will be mounted on steel frames.

Work starts next August and is due to be completed by June 2007.

Managing director David Dyer said: "China really does have an aggressive and exciting plan for the development of its infrastructure, and these three bridges illustrate the government's ambitions.

"We have very good working relationships with a number of design and contracting organisations in China and we are pleased to be able to share DLT's expertise with them on these significant engineering projects."

DLT has a long tradition of bridge building.

Arthur Dorman and Albert Long first set up business together at a Middlesbrough iron works in 1874. During the 1950s and 60s, Cleveland Bridge and Dorman Long worked on several contracts, including the Forth Road and Severn Bridges.

As well as the Sydney Harbour Bridge in Australia, closer to home it built the Newport Bridge in Middlesbrough, and the Tyne Bridge.

The company, along with sister firms Cleveland Bridge and Whessoe Oil and Gas, was recently bought by Saudi Arabia's ninth largest company, the Al Rushaid Group.