A Great Yarmouth fabrication company is poised to double its workforce after winning a contract worth nearly £1m.

KSD Fabrication, based on Ventureforth Business Park, has landed the biggest deal in its 18-year history to supply pipework for three platforms in the southern North Sea.

The contract with oil giant Perenco signals the end of a lean time for the company which was forced to make two staff redundant and put others on reduced hours only two months ago.

Managing director Keith Goate said: 'This is great news for us and for the offshore industry in Yarmouth. This job could have gone anywhere in the country so we are delighted that Perenco have awarded it to us.'

Office manager Liz Bushnell said: 'We currently have 22 employees but will now be looking to double the workforce.

'We will be recruiting specialist welders and pipefitters and there may also be the need for more administration staff.'

She said they would be having to start work within two weeks as the first part of the contract had to be ready for shipment by mid October.

They had recently moved their office over the road to create extra workshop space but would need to find even more space to work on the new contract.

'Our managing-director is currently looking for workshop space we can use elsewhere in the town,' she said.

KSD - which has an annual turnover of about £2.5m - was proud to have earned quality accreditations that few other companies in the region had achieved, she added.

'Perenco represents about 85pc of our business and it was a big blow when they moved to Norwich. However, they have always kept faith with us,' she said.

It was hoped that the contract would lead on to others, including possible installation projects offshore.

She said it would be good news for other businesses too as they always used local suppliers whenever possible.