UK: Wirral Council Awards RGF Grant to Osiris Projects

Wirral Council’s successful Regional Growth Fund (RGF) bid is being used to help a local business create a raft of new jobs in the thriving offshore renewable energy sector.

The Cabinet agreed at their last meeting to support the expansion of the seabed mapping company Osiris Projects by granting them access to RGF funds with the aim of creating 60 new science and technology related jobs at their Headquarters in Bromborough, Wirral.

Wirral Council successfully bid for £5m of Government funding through RGF in 2012 to enable the Council to offer targeted grants, encouraging inward investment and enabling local companies to diversify into manufacturing key supply chain components.

A specialist hydrographic, geophysical and geotechnical survey company, Osiris Projects is skilled in the acquisition, interpretation and presentation of seabed and sub-seabed data. While the offshore renewables sector accounts for the majority of their business, Osiris Projects also works for clients within the oil and gas, subsea cables, port and harbour, aggregates and utilities industries. Commonly provided services include cable and pipeline route surveys and inspection, site and debris clearance surveys, scour monitoring and unexploded ordnance surveys, using a range of data acquisition sensors and positioning equipment.

Director Stephen Blaikie comments: “The growth of the company since establishment in 1997 has largely reflected the growth in UK offshore wind and we have, in a number of ways, tailored our offering to the needs of the industry. As sites become larger and move further offshore, the increased demands on our niche and technically specialised sector mean we are now at the point where we need to invest substantially in our team, equipment and vessels. Through our links with the Council’s business support team Invest Wirral we heard about the Regional Growth Fund and decided to apply.”

Leader of Wirral Council, Cllr Phil Davies said: “Osiris Projects are exactly the type of company that should be supported by the Regional Growth Fund. They have a strong trading history in a growth industry and have a solid plan in place to implement their growth strategy. They are increasingly using their base in Wirral to win work in the offshore wind industry in both the UK and Europe. Renewable energy is identified as a particular growth sector for the Liverpool City Region and the RGF grant will allow Osiris to expand their current suite of services and most importantly, employ more people in Wirral.”

Mr. Blaikie added: “The RGF grant will enable us to continue our sustainable growth to meet increasing demand not only from offshore renewables, but from the offshore industry as a whole. We can now focus on improving our geotechnical offering and investing in new, more efficient cable depth of burial surveying methods, which represents a key challenge for offshore renewables transmission.”

“We are also adding to our existing fleet in late 2014 with the build of ‘Bibby Athena,’ which will be a sister ship to our current flagship ‘Bibby Tethra.’ Based upon the same overall design, Bibby Athena will expand upon the capabilities of Bibby Tethra in a number of areas and will provide an exceptionally stable platform for performing various survey and sampling activities.”

Mark Knowles, Head of Low Carbon Economy, Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership said: “This funding is great news for Osiris Projects and clearly demonstrates how the City Region is making great strides in the Offshore Wind sector.

Mark added: “Having CORE status means we are able to propel the Liverpool City Region’s offshore ambitions further and faster helping to boost jobs and investment across the City Region.”

RenewableUK, the trade body for the UK wind and marine renewables sector recently published its study: Working for a Green Britain Volume 2 which found that:

• The wind, wave and tidal energy sector directly employs 18,465 people full time.
• The sector also supports 15,908 indirect jobs, making a total of over 34,300 employees
• Number of employees in offshore wind has doubled since 2010.
• More than 70,000 jobs could be created over the next decade.
• 91% of the industry’s jobs in theUKare currently filled byUKcitizens.
• North Westbenefiting from the growth in offshore wind industry and supply chain

Companies interested in applying for Regional Growth Funding can get further details on eligibility here.

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Press release, November 18, 2013; Image: Osiris Projects