A NEW Blackburn firm is spending £200,000 on cutting edge technology which it hopes will take it ahead of the competition.

Microtech Sciences Ltd, Capricorn Park, Blakewater Road, is set to start using a microscope which can magnify an object 100,000 times to test for deadly asbestos fibres.

The scanning electron microscope and the necessary computer equipment to go with it is just one of just six used in the field in the country.

And the high tech equipment is so specialised that the firm has had top get special permission to use it.

Now Microtech has just received official United Kingdom Accreditation Service certification, clearing the way to begin using a microscope which it says can offer accuracy and detail above and beyond the industry standard for testing.

Ian Guest, laboratory manager, said: "It enables us as a company to turn a survey report round in less than 24 hours. Most importantly it's one of the most accurate ways of determining whether something is asbestos or not.

"Asbestos is still being found today, it's a major problem. For instance, before there is any refurbishment work done on a building they have to have a survey done to find if there is asbestos."

Microtech, which has a staff of about 30 people, had assistance from the Northwest Regional Development Agency in the form of a £15,000 grant.

The firm now hopes to become an industry leader in the asbestos testing field, and build the business on the back of the microscope. Eventually it is expected that the equipment could be running round the clock testing hundreds of samples a day.

The equipment can say for certain whether a sample contains white, blue or brown asbestos. The process involves putting a sample into a vacuum and bombarding it with electrons.

Mr Guest said: "We are hoping to expand it first from a single day shift to three, and if it takes off we may have to purchase another machine."