A BURY engineering company has just fulfilled a lucrative £250,000 contract to build a giant vacuum tank.

And so large was the vessel that bosses at the town's Elantic Engineering in Webb Street had to remove a gate post to allow a wagon to enter and leave.

The massive storage tank and impregnation vessel is made of carbon steel and the company's 65-strong staff had worked on the project since last November.

Elantic Engineering joint managing director, Mrs Norma Ridyard said: "We acquired the order from Lincolnshire-based Newage International Ltd which makes generators and alternators."

The giant vacuum measured 3.2 metres in diameter by 2 metres deep.

Mrs Ridyard added: "The vacuum will be installed in a factory. We don't make many such vessels, although we have done this type of work in the past."

The manufacturing was carried out by Elantic Engineering's Millitorr division.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.