ENGINEERING consultancy Halcrow is hoping to set up a permanent base in Iraq as it helps rebuild the country.

The company, which employs 570 people at its joint headquarters in Burderop Park, near Wroughton, has been working in the devastated country since May last year.

It is one of the few British firms to have been awarded lucrative contracts to help rebuild Iraq following the Anglo-American invasion and years of neglect by Saddam Hussein.

"Under Saddam everything was done by the state but in a new democracy there would hopefully be a private sector," said Halcrow's regional director in Iraq, Rab Brown.

"In three years' time our target is to have a company of about 200 people in the country made up of 10 per cent expatriates and the rest Iraqis.

"We would like the Iraqi engineers we are employing to become part of Halcrow as soon as the legal framework is in place."

Halcrow currently has a team of 14 including three people from Swindon overseeing the refurbishment of large public buildings in and around Basra.

Under Saddam's rule many buildings fell into disrepair, and since the beginning of the war they have been targeted by looters.

Halcrow's renovation projects have ranged from smaller offices for social care services, to the rehabilitation of Basra's second hospital and technical colleges.

Bill Newcombe, Halcrow's team leader in Iraq who has been in the country since July, said the Al Faiha hospital should be ready to receive patients again by February.

"When we arrived the operating theatres were falling down and sanitary arrangements were very bad," he said.

"Now we are converting old buildings into new out-patient departments."

The £900,000 hospital project is funded by the British Department for International Development.

Halcrow has employed 1,000 Iraqis to carry out the work, and Mr Brown said that Iraqi engineers are as capable as those of other developed countries.

The difference, he said, was in the technology and the ability to mobilise large teams for major projects in a short period of time.

This was where Halcrow's network of expertise could not be matched, he said.

The Halcrow team is working independently of the British military and has employed tight security to protect staff from any Iraqi resistance it might encounter.

Every employee has been trained to work in hostile environments.

But Mr Newcombe said locals did not regard the Halcrow team as foreign invaders.

"The population don't want conflict, they just want to get back to a normal life," he said.

"We don't enter situations which present a serious risk."

Halcrow spokesman Garry Whitaker said the company planned to increase its 3,800 employees across the world to 6,000 by 2007, and said Swindon would benefit from this expansion.

l Halcrow is readying itself to be called out to Iran to help with rebuilding after the earthquake in Bam.

Mr Whitaker said: "At present it is too soon to confirm whether Halcrow will be contributing to

the rebuilding effort. We would of course consider any work that would help to rebuild the lives of those effected by this terrible tragedy."

Andy Tate