AK ENGINEERING Services on Teesside has won a £500,000 contract to provide risk assessment at a number of Anglian Water's sites across the country.

The subsidiary of engineering group Aker Kvaerner, which employs about 1,100 people in the North-East, will work with Anglian Water as part of a joint venture with Skanska Construction.

A consultancy group within AK Engineering, based in Stockton, will work with Anglian Water to perform risk assessment of fire and explosion hazards, hazardous area classification, inspection of equipment in hazardous areas, and identification of remedial measures.

The assessments will be carried out at water, wastewater and sludge treatment facilities.

Mark Leggett, president of Aker Kvaerner's European engineering services business, said: "Concern for safety and the environment is a core value in Aker Kvaerner, and sharing expertise and best practice gathered from a wide variety of projects and industries is fundamental in helping us to meet and exceed our expectations."

The project is due for completion by June next year and the technical assessments will be recorded directly on to a networked database accessible at all Anglian Water sites and offices.