Advanced Composites Group ("ACG"), a leading specialist in the design and manufacture of high performance composite materials, and a subsidiary of Umeco plc, has today won the JEC Composites Award 2005: construction category at the JEC Composites Show awards in Paris, France.

This prestigious industry award has been awarded to ACG for its ground-breaking work in designing and developing the technology for advanced composite bridge construction on the build of an innovative motorway bridge on the Highway of Cantabrico in Spain.

The bridge, constructed in partnership with NECSO Entrecanales Cubiertas, Madrid, one of Europe's leading construction companies, is the result of engineering's search for more efficient construction methods.

Civil engineers have traditionally used the 'composite' properties of concrete and steel when designing bridge structures, but, for the first time ever ACG has assisted NECSO in producing a 46m beam element that utilises carbon fibre prepreg technology. The reinforcing fibres and polymer matrix in this design provide all the structural strength of the element. NECSO selected ACG's prepreg technology to ensure that actual laminate properties were as close to design predictions as possible and that necessary quality control was maintained from material specification through to component manufacture.

One of the main benefits of constructing the bridge in this innovative way is the reduction of time for which the road passing underneath the bridge needed to remain closed. The expense was significantly lower in terms of crane/haulage/manpower costs. The bridge went up in two days compared to the expected standard for a 150ft bridge of 40 days. Due to the low weight to high stiffness ratio of the beams, it was possible to deliver entire units to site, where they were jointed into three 46 metre long elements and located onto the pre-cast concrete support columns in a single crane lift operation.

Alan Moore, Managing Director, Advanced Composites Group, commented: "We are delighted to receive this prestigious reward for our groundbreaking work. We continue to work with a large number of clients on delivering new and exciting uses for our innovative composite materials and it is an honour to receive the congratulations of our peers on this world wide stage.

"Our products seem to reach further, go higher and go faster with each application. Our recent achievements span a number of sectors and include involvement in Spaceship One, the record breaking Virgin Globalflyer and Koenigsegg, the supercar which recently broke the record for the fastest car in production.

"Whilst we are proud to win this award, we will continue to work to develop our products to meet new demands and create new strength and efficiencies across all applications."

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For further information contact:

Alan Moore, Advanced Composites Group Tel: 01773 766 200

John Olsen / Barnaby Fry, Hogarth Partnership Tel: 020 7357 9477