Road building and other big projects helped civil engineering firm SIAC almost double profits to €15 million last year.

SIAC, one of the biggest players in the sector, said yesterday that turnover grew 15 per cent to €276 million in 2006 from €239 million the previous year.

Operating profit grew by 75 per cent to €14.9 million from €8.8 million in 2005. Profits after tax increased by 85 per cent to €11.3 million in 2006 from €6.2 million the year before.

A joint venture between SIAC and Spanish engineering giants, Ferrovial and Cintra, won the contract for the Clonee-Kells M3 motorway during 2006.

That contract was valued at €600 million. The plan ran into controversy because a number of groups were concerned about the archeological sensitivity of part of the route, and work there was hit with protests earlier this year.

Also during the year, it began working on the upgrade of the M50 ring route around Dublin.

SIAC completed a number of high-profile contracts during the period, including the N15 Ballyshannon/Bundoran bypass in Donegal.

This route includes the Cathleen Falls Bridge over the river Erne, which won awards for its design and structure earlier this year.

SIAC chairman, Finn Lyden, said these public projects made a significant contribution to SIAC's growth in 2006. "Significant growth was seen during 2006 and both turnover and operating profits reflect this trend which was in line with our expectations," Mr Lyden said.

Managing director, Hank Fogarty, who is also president of the Construction Industry Federation (CIF), said the group recorded a number of achievements during the year, including the regeneration of Dublin's O'Connell Street.

Early last month, SIAC announced it had bought UK steel fabrication business, Graham Wood Structural, which is based in Sussex in southern England. Last March, SIAC was ranked number 14 in the list of top 150 building firms featured in CIF's magazine, Construction.