Fisher wins Forth bridge contract

Marine services group James Fisher has won a “multi-million pound” contract to provide monitoring technology and engineering support for the new road bridge over the firth of Forth.

The company said its subsidiary, Strainstall, will provide a system to monitor the new cable-stayed bridge, allowing any movement and loadings to be monitored all the time, both during the construction phase as well as throughout the service life.

As well as an array of high-tech devices providing detailed measurements of every strain and sway in the structure, Strainstall will supply its own software to process and analyse the data. Installation of the technology will take four years. The £1.6 billion bridge, which has still to be named, is due to open at the end of 2016.

James Fisher chief executive Nick Henry said: “The fact that Strainstall has been selected for this contract is testament to our specific expertise and international reputation as a leader in the provision of structural monitoring, adding to Strainstall’s impressive track record of long span bridge monitoring technology.”

Cumbria-based James Fisher recently acquired Aberdeen-based diving equipment supplier Divex and owns Renfrew-based submarine rescue service Rumic.