A CONSTRUCTION company has landed contracts worth more than £90m, underpinning hundreds of North-East jobs.

Lumsden & Carroll, the civil engineering arm of the Durham-based Esh Group, has secured two long-term contracts for Northumbrian Water, on its waste water network.

Together they will be worth up to £9m a year and could run until 2011.

Another Esh subsidiary, Dunelm Property Services, together with two other contractors, has been awarded a contract worth £105m over five years, on behalf of Erimus Housing, in Middlesbrough.

Based in Esh Winning, near Durham, the company employs 800 staff.

A spokeswoman said the contracts would sustain existing jobs and more could be created.

Brian Manning, chief executive of the Esh Group said: "Both companies succeeded in the face of strong competition.

"It proves that indigenous contractors, such as the Esh Group, are capable of handling high value, long term contracts.

"When these are won by home grown companies - local employers which develop high quality supply chains within the area - this can only be good news for the regional economy overall."

The Erimus deal will see Dunelm Property Services make improvements to housing stock formerly owned by Middlesbrough Council, to ensure it meets the Government's Decent Homes Standard.

The first phase will involve about 800 homes in the Berwick Hills and Park End areas of the borough, to be completed by next March.

After that, it will work on another 800 properties each year.

Dunelm will work with Erimus Building Services and ROK on the contract.

David Halfacre, managing director of Dunelm Property Services, said: "We are obviously delighted to have won such a prestigious contract."

Lumsden & Carroll has worked with Northumbrian for 15 years as an area service provider and the water company has a satellite office in its building.

Esh Group will post its annual results next week, when it is expected to show strong growth on its 2003 turnover of £73m.