AMEC has won a half-billion dollar contract to rebuild Iraq's power supply, the biggest reconstruction deal yet secured by a British company.

The company, which was awarded the £277m contract in partnership with US company Fluor, said it was delighted by the success.

The power deal is one of ten contracts, paid for by the US Government, due to be announced in the next few weeks.

Brian Wilson, the Prime Minister's special envoy on Iraq reconstruction, said: "This is excellent news for Amec, British industry and above all, the Iraqis, who very much want to see a strong British involvement in the reconstruction process.

"British companies have also done well in winning management contracts for this massive US-funded programme.

"I have no doubt that, as decision-making and funding move towards the Iraqis themselves, the British contribution will continue to expand."

Amec has canvassed its staff for volunteers to work in Iraq and a spokesman said yesterday that there was a high likelihood that workers from the company's Darlington operation would be involved.

"Darlington is an obvious place where there are the people with the expertise for this job. It is one of our centres of excellence in this type of work," he said.

The engineering group's partner, Fluor, has already been involved in power work in Iraq, while Amec has secured more than a billion dollars-worth of work in the country.

Bidding for contracts was restricted to companies from countries that supported the US war effort in Iraq.

Sir Peter Mason, Amec chief executive, said: "We are delighted to confirm we have won our first big contract in Iraq.

While we and Fluor are already on the ground, with around 2,000 people near Baghdad, this is a much more sizeable piece of work across the whole of Iraq and confirms our important role in the reconstruction of the country."

Work on the contract will start immediately and will continue over the next two years, involving a number of Iraqi subcontractors.

Amec is bidding for six further contracts to restore power, water, transportation and infrastructure, worth up to $3.5bn.

Amec yesterday recorded a seven per cent rise in annual profits to £112.5m.