labour market news - tees valley

issue 5 DATE AUGUST 2014

11TEES VALLEY SKILLS - NEWSLETTER

Nortech Shows Commitmentwith new ApprenticeshipsNortech the award winning engineering design andprocurement service provider based at Wynyard TeesValley has demonstrated its commitment to the arearsquosfuture by launching an internal apprenticeshipprogramme

Nortech serves the onshore and offshore oil andgas process petrochemical and iron and steelindustries and has expanded rapidly after securinga number of significant contracts with clients in theburgeoning oil and gas sector

Recent statistics have revealed that despite an 88 increasein adult engineering apprenticeships the engineering workforceis aging with a lack of new talent entering the industry

Bryan Bunn of Nortech has set up a number of schemesto tackle the issue including an internal apprenticeshipprogramme which will take at least two new apprenticesevery year supporting young people through technicaltraining organisations college or university Nortech alsoprovides work-based learning for their apprenticeships aswell as local campaigns for the promotion of engineeringin secondary schools wwwnortech-groupcom

welc om e

Welcome to issue 5 of theTees Valley Skills Newsletterproduced by Tees Valley Unlimitedthe public and private sectorLocal Enterprise Partnershipfor Tees Valley

This issue focuses on the Oil andGas sector where the TeesValley is one of the key centresfor the offshore industries inthe UK producing 70 of theoil platforms and heavyengineering for the North SeaThe oil and gas supply chain inthe Tees Valley is made up ofmore than 400 direct and3000 indirect companiesemploying more than 4250people including internationalcompanies such as BP ConocoPhilips Hertel and HeeremaOccupations within the industryare varied and numerous andthe Tees Valley has excellenttraining providers and careeropportunities for apprentices

The newsletter supports theTees Valley Skills Portal ndash forregular updates please visitwwwteesvalleyunlimitedgovuk

- focus on OIL and gas

MODUS MODUS Seabed Intervention aspecialist provider for subseadevelopments to the oil and gassector as well as the renewableenergy telecommunications anddefence industries continues to gofrom strength to strength Companygrowth will be helped further asModus has recently secured a wagesubsidy through the Tees Valley Jobsand Skills Investment Scheme tocreate two new positions

The Darlington company which employsmore than 50 staff will recruit aProject Engineer and an EngineeringApprentice to further enhance itsengineering department enabling thesubsea firm to bid for more projectsThe Apprentice will access a structuredcareer path and MODUS will benefitfrom a long-term relationship creatinga loyal employee with direct workingknowledge of the subsea industry

MODUS provides project servicesand remote and autonomoustechnologies for subsea and seabedintervention and are part of a growing

cluster of subsea firms in the Tees ValleyThey operates a comprehensiverange of unmanned underwatervehicle (UUV) systems which aredeployed across the entire life cycleof a subsea field development suchas an oil and gas platform from sitesurvey through construction supportto long term integrity managementand decommissioning

MODUS have accessed the Tees ValleyJobs and Skills Investment SchemeManaged by Tees Valley Unlimited thescheme supports Tees Valley businesseslooking to grow by providing a wagesubsidy of up to 50 towards the firstyear costs of a new job to take ontrainees apprentices or graduates ofany age It has already created over 500jobs and more details on the schemeand eligibility are available here

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issue 5 DATE AUGUST 2014

TEES VALLEY SKILLS - NEWSLETTER

SECTOR SPOTLIGHT

Research RoundupProductivity Report

Productivity figures recently produced show thatthe Tees Valley is in the top half of all regions inthe country The Productivity Index figures putthe Tees Valley top in the North East as well asabove regions such as East Midlands WestMidlands and Yorkshire amp Humber regionsProductivity has remained fairly constant in theregion over the past few years and figuressuggest this will continue

Read the full report here

UKCES Survey

The UKCES Employers Survey has shown thatTees Valley Employers are recruiting youngpeople into vacant positions 8 of Tees Valleyemployers had recruited 16 year old schoolleavers in the previous 12 months with 15 ofemployers having recruited a 17-18 year oldperson in the same time 14 of businesses inthe Tees Valley have also recruited a universitygraduate Overall 15 of all businesses had jobvacancies over the past 12 months Businessesare finding some vacancies are harder to fillwith 18 of employers stating that they had askills gap within their staff while 67 ofbusinesses had arranged training for their staff

Read the full report here

Tees Valley Population

The latest official figures released have shown aslow-down in population growth within the TeesValley Natural change (births ndash deaths)continues to be the main driver for Tees Valleypopulation growth and it remains strong at2300 per annum

Apprenticeships

April saw 108 apprenticeship vacancies advertisedin the Tees Valley Apprenticeships remain apopular pathway to employment with 1252applications being received for these 108 vacanciesThe vacancies range from such sectors asHealth Public Services amp Care Engineering ampManufacturing Technologies Information ampCommunication Technology and Leisure Travel ampTourism Applications in the sectors of Retail ampCommercial Enterprise and BusinessAdministration amp Law are the most popular sectorsand receive the vast majority of applications

Oil amp Gas FabricationWith its long history of offshore engineering the Tees Valleyhas many expert fabrication companies in the offshore sectorProviding a full supply chain solution from conception to delivery(including operations and maintenance skills and training) somecompanies already located and operating in the sector are

Hereema - Heerema Fabrication Group (HFG) specializes inthe engineering and fabrication of large and complex structuresfor the offshore oil amp gas and energy-related industries HFGoffers a comprehensive range of services including initialconception front-end engineering detailed fabricationdesign procurement construction and commissioning

Hereema Hartlepool has two purpose-built constructionfacilities located around the Hartlepool dock The locationallows access by sea air road and rail and is situatedbetween Teesside and Tyneside two of the industrys majorsources of fabrication skills and expertise

Hertel - Hertel provide multi discipline accommodationservices covering the Offshore Marine and Defence industriesThey have over 40 yearsEcirc experience in the constructionmaintenance and refurbishment Offshore facilities

AampP Group Cordell Group Francis Brown Able UK MTE

SBV Fabrications TAG Energy Solutions Samsug GTL Wilton Group

Local or GlobalThe UK is also a world leader in oil and gas with North Sea oiland gas fields right on our door step Our leading companiesalso work all over the world in exciting places such as BrazilDubai the USA and Canada - giving fantastic opportunities totravel If you want to stay slightly closer to home the TeesValley is one of the UKEcircs leading locations for offshore energy- with a long track record for delivering large scale projects inoil and gas fabrication and decommissioning Tees Valley alsohas the worldEcircs largest cluster of subsea companiesdesperate for new talent to enter the industry

There are literally hundreds of career options available in theoffshore energy sector These can be onshore offshoredesign fabrication decommissioning support services suchas law and accountancy you name it

To help you search to find a possible career for you try theexcellent AcircMy Oil and Gas CareerEcirc page from Opitohttpwwwmyoilandgascareercom

Here you should find everything you need about the differentcareers in oil and gas and many of these also cross over intooffshore wind The rapidly growing subsea sector supports bothoil and gas and renewables sectors as well as other importantglobal markets such as telecommunications and robotics

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labour market news - tees valley 3

issue 5 DATE AUGUST 2014

SubseaIncreases in wind farms and movesby oil and gas firms to develop moreoffshore projects are fuelling amassive swell in the need for qualifiedengineers within the subsea industryWith analysts predicting even moregrowth within the sector over the nextfew years the number of jobs includingthose working in the wider subseasupply chain has increased from50000 in 2010 to over 66000today

All the UKEcircs major sub-sea servicesproviders are resident in the TeesValley which they chose for its primegeographic location and the supportservices available This has created ahub of expertise including sub-sea ROV(remotely operated vehicles) cable-laying and cable-trenching capabilityoperating globally in the renewablesoil and gas and telecommunicationsectors Companies include

JDR Cables - JDR is a leadingprovider of technology connectingthe global offshore energy industryThey operate in Subsea ProductionUmbilicals Subsea Power Cablesand Intervention Workover ControlSystems for the offshore oil andgas industry and have developedtechnologies to maximise theefficient delivery of power controland communications throughumbilicals and power cables

C-State - AS we plumb new depthsto ensure the continued supplyand maintenance of naturalenergy sources DarlingtonCollege is bridging the offshoreskills gap by creating the UKEcircsfirst bespoke subsea trainingcentre

bdquoCurriculum manager forengineering Lee Childs explainsthat bdquoour Centre for SubseaTechnology Awareness Trainingand Education or AcircC-StateEcirc is thefirst of its kind in the country andwill allow our students to receivebespoke training in themaintenance and operation ofoffshore technologiespermil

A collaboration between industryand education the C-State facilityhas been developed byengineering company ModusSeabed Intervention (based inDarlington) in partnership withMaritime Training andCompetence Solutions (MTCS) inCumbria Darlington CollegeTeesside University Tees ValleyUnlimited and Darlington Council

The state-of-the-art resourceincludes a pound5m fully functioning200hp hydraulic remotelyoperated vehicle (ROV) orunderwater robot provided byModus used for drillingsupport and subseaconstruction services Housedin a fully equipped workshop itallows students to learn howto maintain the individualcomponents required fordeepwater exploration anddevelopment projects

A fully contained separatecommand module links tothe ROV facility which whenoperated will instruct thegiant robot to perform arange of functions fromcarrying a camera forobserving subseaenvironments to using avariety of mechanical arms toperform tasks such as drillingdigging and cable laying all in

waters measuring up to 10000feet deep

The college facility will offer arange of courses fromapprenticeships to further andhigher education qualification toits students bdquoAs a college wehave always delivered courses onelectrical and hydraulic systemsbut this new centre allows us todo this on a whole new scale for agrowing industry wheregraduates can demand salaries inexcess of pound50000permil says Lee

And the college is alreadyconsidering the possibilities ofexpanding its subsea trainingfacilities in the future

bdquoWe are looking at the potentialof creating a submersion tankwhich will give our students theopportunity to use the ROVcontrols in a more realisticenvironment and simulate theconditions they would be facedwith at seapermil says Lee bdquoObviouslyawareness of subsea conditionsis vital in this industrypermil

For more information log on towwwdarlingtonacuk

s AampP Group s Deep Ocean s Global Marine Systems s Hertel s IHC Engineering Business s Modus Subsea Intervention s Reef Subsea s VCMC s Wilton Group

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Whorsquos Recruiting

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issue 5 DATE AUGUST 2014

TEES VALLEY SKILLS - NEWSLETTER

Hartlepool firm Seatechs whichsupplies specialised staff to theoffshore oil industry expects toincrease annual turnover to pound10mafter winning a major contract Thecompany has won a nine-monthdeal from Wellstream worth justunder pound3m to send about 30workers to Campus Basin in BrazilThey will install the pipeline thatruns from the FPSO ndash a floating rigused to extract crude oil

Hartlepool based engineering andfabrication specialist HeeremaFabrication Group is to create350 jobs in the North East toassist in the build of four gasplatforms for the Cygnus gas fieldproject in the southern North Sea

Middlesbrough-based Hertel wasrecently awarded a long-termmaintenance contract on one ofthe UKEcircs largest oil refineries Themulti-disciplinary construction andmaintenance services companywhich employs more than 1000 inTees Valley will carry outmaintenance services for the TotalUK-owned Lindsay Oil Refinery atImmingham on Humbersie thethird largest facility of its kind inthe UK

Hartlepool-based subsea cablecompany JDR Cables has won acontract for an oil field off thecoast of West Africa The companywill design and manufacture two

five-kilometre power cables for theTotal Ofon Phase 2 project onbehalf of global subsea contractorSubsea 7

The engineering firm Amec whichruns its European headquartersfrom Darlington has agreed to buyUS company Foster Wheeler Thedeal announced as Amec revealeda record pound41bn order book willallow it to win more contracts in oiland gas markets The newsfollows on from the announcementof AmecEcircs plans to create 700North-East jobs in 2014 by takingon welders pipe fitters tankerectors and riggers across theregion in order to help meet itsexpanding orders The firm whichpresently employs more than 400staff in Darlington providestechnical support to clients aroundthe world in energy mining andinfrastructure projects

The marine firm Able UK whichoperates Seaton Port at the mouthof the River Tees nearMiddlesbrough has bought theUKEcircs largest harbour crane It saysits new Liebherr crane will help ithandle more work in the offshorewind and oil and gas sectors andcreate 40 new jobs The cranemarks the first stage of acomprehensive machineryupgrade attracting new businessto Seaton Port and helping boost

plans for a new quay potentiallycreating up to 100 jobsAdditionally Able has secured acontract to dispose of North Seaoffshore platforms from the Shelloperated Brent Field It isexpected that this contract couldcreate another 100 jobs

Reef Subsea Integrated Projectsthe Thornaby-based subsea servicefirm has secured a major oil andgas trenching contract The workfor leading Tier 1 client TechnipNorge AS will be undertaken onthe BŒyla Development Project inthe North Sea The company onlyformed in January 2012 isplanning to grow its existingworkforce of 45 over the comingmonths

We value your feedback To comment about this newsletter orto receive this newsletter electronically please e-mailinfoteesvalleyunlimitedgovukTel 01642 524469

If you would like this information in any other language or format eg large print oraudio please contact Tees Valley Unlimited on (01642) 524400

Labour Market News Issue 5_Layout 1 11052015 1639 Page 4