Jobs have been be secured at a fabrication yard on the Isle of Lewis after it received major offshore wind turbine order.

Parent company BiFab has won a £100m contract to supply 26 wind turbine foundations for the SSE-led Beatrice offshore wind farm in the outer Moray Firth.

The contract - which will be split between the Arnish yard on Lewis and BiFab's two yards in Fife - will support 200 jobs, the company said.

It will create a much needed employment boost at the manufacturing yard outside Stornoway which has been operating on a care and maintenance basis after scaling down its workforce due to the offshore energy downturn.

The order for BiFab requires 22,500 tonnes of steel and gives the company work until April 2018.

Ten of the turbine substructures are to be ready for August 2017, with the remaining 16 to be completed the following April.

The foundations built at Arnish will be shipped to Methil in Fife for final assembly and loadout.

John Robertson, BiFab's managing director, said: "We are delighted that BiFab has been selected as part of the supply chain for this major UK Infrastructure project.

"BiFab manufactured the two Beatrice demonstrators in 2006, and we have been monitoring closely the development of the Beatrice Project over the last ten years.

"We are very pleased that SSE and their partners are moving forward with the full development of the Beatrice Project."

Mr Robertson added: "The award of this project complements and strengthens our ambition to set up one of the most advanced manufacturing facilities for the supply of substructures for the offshore wind industry.

"The BiFab facilities can produce over 80 jacket substructures per year."