ONE of India's most renowned temples will be restored by a Newport engineering firm.

Cintec International, based at Gold Tops, has secured the contract to begin initial restoration work on the Konark Sun Temple in Orissa.

The Archaeological Society of India has called on the firm to undertake detailed laser scanning so they can find out structural condition of the 13th Century monument.

This will take around six weeks to complete and is the first stage in a restoration contract that could be worth millions of pounds.

The Sun Temple is on India’s east coast on the Bay of Bengal.

It was built as a dedication to Surya, the Sun God and is a UNESCO world heritage site and a popular tourist attraction.

It is highly regarded for its impressive dimensions, balanced architecture and intricate decoration with detailed stone carvings.

The temple’s now-collapsed tower is estimated to have been around 200 feet tall - bigger than any other tower in India.

Several previous conservation and repair attempts date back as far as 1838 and between 1900 and 1905 the temple porch was filled with sand to prevent its collapse.

But the restoration project proposed by Cintec is set to be the most in-depth ever attempted at the Temple and would use its patented Archtec anchoring system used to strengthen the structure from within.

Managing director, Peter James, said the company was delighted to be able to be able to bring its expertise to India in a bid to preserve the iconic and world renowned monument.

Cintec has an extensive amount of experience in preserving historical structures, having worked on landmarks across the globe, including Buckingham Palace, The White House complex, and most recently, the world’s oldest Pyramid, the Step Pyramid in Egypt.