A NORTH business which has achieved international recognition for its larger-than-life bronze castings is to invest in an expansion plan helping it to reach even greater heights.

Black Isle Bronze, the foundry that cast The Falconer statue by sculptress Leonie Gibbs, for the Eastgate Centre in Inverness, routinely deals with commissions of all shapes and sizes.

But as demand grows for double life-size castings the company has decided the time is right to enhance its competitive edge, by installing a larger furnace. Greater capacity welding and compressor equipment, and extended hoist and runway areas are also part of the firm's £43,000 expansion plans, which are being backed with a grant of just over £10,000 from Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE).

Farquhar Laing, (38), who hails from the Black Isle, set up the company, which has been based at Balmakeith Business Park, Nairn, since 1994. He started the business as a one man band, with just £200 for materials, but now employs a staff of eight and has orders booked for the next year.

Ruaraidh MacNeil, HIE's head of operations for the Inner Moray Firth, said: "The work of Black Isle Bronze is in great demand both at home and abroad and the company is renowned for its standards of excellence. This is exactly the type of enterprise that we are delighted to assist."

Explaining the need to expand, Mr Laing said: "We already have the largest melting capacity of its type in Scotland, but this expansion will double our melting capacity, to put us on a par with the largest English foundries.

"This expansion will not only enable us to be more competitive with our larger counterparts south of the Border, but also complement the skills that we have here at Black Isle Bronze which are now in huge demand. Once this expansion is complete, it's safe to say we will be the largest foundry of this type north of Birmingham. Our goal is to maintain and enhance what we do already."

Mr Laing added: "I am grateful to HIE for the support it has given to us. The expansion has already begun, we have started purchasing some of the equipment and this has allowed us to take on two new workers, bringing the number of full time staff up to eight."

Commissions to date have included castings of sporting figures for Royal Ascot racecourse, Haydock Park, Twickenham Rugby Stadium, The New Wembley Stadium, Lords cricket ground and four English Premiership football stadia. Further afield, a copy of the Highland Clearances family at Helmsdale was shipped out to Winnipeg, Canada, while a Black Isle Bronze casting of a thoroughbred mare and her foal stands in the Chokyu racecourse in Tokyo. Black Isle Bronze was also asked to provide all 66 castings for the recently competed Robert Adam Building on Piccadilly, London.

Future commissions include two double-life size statues for Newcastle United Football Club, and monuments to Ismbard Kingdom Brunel and Roger Bannister.

Mr Laing said: "We deliberately aim for the prestige market. We sent five bronzes to The Ivy restaurant in London, we're installing a large monument to James Clerk Maxwell (the Scottish mathematician and physicist) on George Street in Edinburgh this week and we're about to start on two large American World War One memorials in the new year".

"We have sent work to Japan, to North America and northern France and have started working in Dubai this month (November)."