NOTTINGHAM has arrowed in on a York company to help it to tell the story of its heritage - including the legendary Robin Hood.

Profile Nottingham, a business group which examines future development opportunities for the Midlands city, has chosen Continuum to undertake a £40,000 feasibility study.

The £2.25 million turnover Continuum Group, a master of interpreting history using 21st century techniques, will examine the possibility of a visitor attraction on the site of Nottingham Castle, alongside its museum.

Now staff at Continuum, consisting of Past Forward and Heritage Projects, are working hard at their HQ, the former school at St Edmund's House in Margaret Street, York, to complete the assignment by March. There is a possibility that, should the Nottingham visitor attraction prove credible, Continuum may be asked to run it.

The contract crowns a frenetic two years which resulted in the opening of the reconstruction of a medieval village at Walraversijde, near Ostend, Belgium, using 3D computer modelling and other techniques, and a detailed time travel experience through Tudor Boston in Lincolnshire.

There was also a £2.7 million project illustrating the Great Siege of Malta and the story of The Knights of St John in the island's capital, Valetta.

The impetus accelerates with the opening from next Easter of two major ventures.

One is a £750,000 educational heritage attraction which Continuum will operate at Mary Kings College, Edinburgh - the story of the underground city beneath the streets of the Scottish capital.

On behalf of a commercial organisation, Continuum will operate the nearly £1 million "Look and See" visitor attraction in Littlehampton, with the theme of the surrounding coast and countryside, including the wonders of the South Downs.

Juliana Delaney, director of Continuum, said: "Nottingham chose us for the task from three companies because of our broad range of proven skills, from financial analysis to creativity."

Beyond Continuum's skill in creating similar attractions, including Jorvik of York, the Oxford Story, Canterbury Tales and Whitby Abbey Visitor Centre, it has also had success in obtaining funding from a range of influential bodies, such as the Heritage Lottery and the European Regional Development Fund.

Updated: 10:41 Tuesday, January 14, 2003