A COMPANY based in Huddersfield is helping a massive development take shape in Dubai.

Birkby-based building products firm Marshalls is supplying concrete block paving for the spectacular Dubai Festival City development in the United Arab Emirates.

The major scheme will provide shopping malls, restaurants, hotels, offices, apartments and leisure facilities including a marina and golf course.

The development is taking shape along a four-kilometre stretch of Dubai Creek.

Marshalls has won a £750,000 contract to supply concrete block paving for the scheme.

The contract is the biggest overseas order won by Marshalls since 2004 - when it supplied materials for a theme park development in Hong Kong.

Paul Stark, overseas marketing manager for Marshalls, said: "It is a real privilege - and a mark of Marshalls' quality products - to be involved in such a high-profile project as the Dubai Festival City development.

"We have had an excellent working relationship with the developers, Al-Futtaim Carillion, over a number of years.

"We last worked with them on the Dubai Marina project when we supplied a package of material comprising paving and street furniture."

Marshalls is providing paving from its Mistral and Tegula ranges, which have featured on a series of high-profile projects.

They include the Baltic Square scheme at Gateshead, the BBC Media Village at London's White City, the headquarters of drugs company Glaxo in London and the Falkirk Wheel for British Waterways at Falkirk, Scotland.

Among previous overseas projects, Marshalls has provided products for development schemes in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the USA.

The company is the UK's leading manufacturer of stone and concrete paving for drives, footpaths and patios.

Its products are used everywhere from domestic driveways to major schemes such as Wembley.

Marshalls has 3,000 employees and operates from 12 depots and 14 offices across the UK. It also has quarries at Shepley.