The £65,000 sub-contract, carried out on behalf of the Tay Road Bridge Joint Board, was instigated as part of the bridge-strengthening programme - necessitated to accommodate the 40-tonne vehicles now sanctioned to access Britain's road network. Main Contractor for the project was Scottish based R. J. McLeod (Contractors) Ltd.

The work, officially described as 'increasing the confinement strength of the columns', is effectively designed to enhance their shear stiffness. Strengthening was achieved using MBT Feb 'Kevlar' AK90 fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) composite fabric, but because of the two-directional tapered configuration of each pier, CRL needed to utilise a unique planning strategy and an efficient procedure for cutting the material.

Sheets were cut and applied in strips of up to 3-metres by 0.3-metres. To meet the design requirements, which called for 2.5mm of effective fibre thickness, six 0.42mm sheets were applied to each pier. Each hoop was applied horizontally in two halves and overlapped by 200mm. In all, more than 700m©˜ of the fibre-reinforced polymer fabric were needed to complete the job.

Additional works included some conventional concrete repairs and the application of a protective anti-carbonation coating to protect several of the structure's other piers. The sub-contract was managed from the new Scottish Regional Office based in Falkirk and was successfully completed within the twelve application days originally planned.