A specialist asbestos removal company in Moray plans to add to its workforce after winning work at the Dounreay nuclear plant.
Northern Asbestos Services (NAS), which has been working at the Caithness site since 2008, has signed a £750,000, two-year extension with Dounreay Site Restoration.
NAS employs 40 people but said it would recruit four trainees to support the contract.
Managing director Mark Watkins added: “The new contract starts this month and is great news for us.
“I’m particularly pleased that we are working on such an important and high-profile site and that we are able to take on more staff.”
Elgin-based NAS was set up in 2005, with an initial workforce of just five and turnover of £320,000 in its first year. In the years since, turnover has grown to £2.6million and more than doubled in the past year alone.
NAS has previously said growth was boosted by a move into the central belt, where the company now has an office in Stirling, as well as the launch of a scaffolding division which took in £450,000 in its first year.
The inhalation of asbestos fibres can cause serious illnesses, including malignant lung cancer, mesothelioma and asbestosis.
Asbestos use soared in the late-19th century, when it became the material of choice for builders because of its sound absorption, strength and heat resistance. In January 2005, the European Union banned all use of asbestos and it is now removed regularly from buildings built before 2000.