A ROOFING business has won its largest contract, promising to keep it busy for the next five years.

Hathaway Roofing is responsible for the specialised aluminium and steel roof for Heathrow's new Terminal Five project.

About 80 per cent of the roof will be pre-fabricated in the company's base in Bishop Auckland, County Durham, and transported in six-metre lengths to London.

Work on the £40m contract is due to start on site in November, and is expected to last until 2008.

The contract involves the roofing for the central terminal building and an arrivals satellite building, valued at about £34m.

A further £6m worth of work involves a variety of other buildings, such as maintenance sheds and sub stations.

Dave Binks, chairman of Hathaway Roofing, said: "In terms of monetary value, this is our largest contract to date, and is one of the biggest jobs we have ever done. The total cost of the Terminal Five project has been put at around £3bn.

"For this project we have developed an innovative way of working, which involves the fabrication of about 3,500 6m by 3m sections of roof, which are then transported to London for installation by a team on site."

He said: "As well as the terminal building itself and an associated satellite building, there are around 100 other buildings on the site which will require our attention."

Established as a family firm in 1967, but acquired by a management buy-out team in 1997, Hathaway Roofing currently employs in excess of 300 staff, including 160 in Bishop Auckland, with the rest working on sites across the UK.

Previous contracts have included roofing the former Fujitsu plant, at Newton Aycliffe, and the Siemens operation, on North Tyneside.

The Terminal Five project will allow Heathrow to maintain its position as Europe's leading international hub airport and provide much-needed state-of-the-art facilities to help meet the future demand.

Terminal Five will also consolidate the UK's position at the centre of world aviation, securing jobs, attracting inward investment and generating economic prosperity for years to come.