Ashtead Technology invests £1m in new tech centre to support renewables and decom work

Integrated subsea technology and services provider Ashtead Technology has invested £1million to develop a new R&D and engineering facility in Aberdeenshire. The firm has also launched a recruitment drive to bolster its operations as part of its long-term business goal.

Upgrading an existing site at Thainstone Business Park, the new 15,000 ft² technology centre located in Inverurie features an engineering, research and development suite, a dedicated equipment trial and testing zone, and a 10-ton overhead crane to support on-site fabrication and machining capabilities. The facility also has an acre of yard and storage space.

The company, which is headquartered in Westhill, is looking to recruit an initial twelve new employees to be based across its two Aberdeenshire addresses in roles including project management, design and engineering.

Ashtead Technology has experienced accelerated and sustained growth over the past four years following five strategic global acquisitions. The mechanical solutions from its most recent addition, Underwater Cutting Solutions (UCS), are now fully accommodated at the new premises alongside its asset integrity team.

Allan Pirie, Ashtead Technology, CEO, said: We’ve grown rapidly over the past few years, and consolidating our team and technologies in a new purpose designed facility to further integrate our service offering to better support our clients has always been the plan. The opening of our new advanced site supports our aim to increase our foothold in renewables and decommissioning and bring our teams closer together to offer a more efficient service.

“Our Technology Centre expansion has also created an opportunity to add to our multi-skilled team and we look forward to attracting new talent into the business.”

Fraser Collis, General Manager of Ashtead Technology’s Mechanical Solutions division, said: The UK currently has the largest and most dynamic offshore-wind market in the world and decommissioning projects are also back on the agenda following a slow down due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“We now have double the capacity of our previous site to house our vast range of equipment such as diamond wire saws, dredging systems, shear cutters and ROV tooling, as well as the facilities to now develop more bespoke technologies to support our clients’ operations.

“We are well positioned to capitalise on our combined in-house, multi-disciplined expertise to deliver in these areas as well as offering an enhanced working environment for our staff.”

Ashtead Technology employs around 180 personnel in key offshore energy hubs across the UK, the Americas, the Middle East and Asia Pacific.