Powering the region
17th October, 2014
THE latest Ward Hadaway Fastest 50 list demonstrates that the energy sector remains a fertile ground for new businesses, growth, and innovation.
The North East continues to reinforce its sector heritage by developing highly trained engineers, technicians and commercial staff with valuable knowledge of the offshore and onshore energy markets.
The value of this human capital has long been understood by regional, national and international businesses looking for a skilled workforce across the world.
Whilst other regions and countries produce more engineers by volume, not many can compete with the quality of the output from the North East.
The sheer size of the wider energy sector allows the region to participate very profitably at many levels, in global markets, and across a wide spectrum of opportunities.
In turn this has fostered a broad range of innovative businesses, all at differing stages of development.
Although there remain a significant number of challenges to businesses operating in the sector, including changes to government policy, currency fluctuations and the need to retain good staff, the continued basic global demand for energy will continue to drive growth.
In the last 12 months, fossil fuel, renewable and nuclear power generation have all featured highly in the public consciousness.
The shutdown of EDF’s plants at Hartlepool and Heysham 1 have highlighted issues with the UK’s ageing fleet of reactors, with businesses in the region looking to capitalize on maintenance and outage works where necessary.
Within the renewables space, the offshore wind market continues to develop, with the Round 3 projects entering their construction phase in 2014.
These projects are likely to generate a range of opportunities for offshore training, service and maintenance businesses in the region.
Meanwhile the oil and gas sector continues to contribute strongly to the region’s economy, providing growth in numerous areas including subsea and offshore technology, engineering design and fabrication and technical engineering support.
The existing skills present in the region are being actively supported by the local universities and college, an example being the North East Energy Academy.
These facilities should reinforce our position as a centre of excellence for the renewable and offshore markets.
Within the North East, established businesses related to some of the world’s largest corporations sit alongside smaller high growth companies.
This combination will no doubt add to the list of energy sector businesses featuring in Fastest 50 lists in the years to come.
Please note that this briefing is designed to be informative, not advisory and represents our understanding of English law and practice as at the date indicated. We would always recommend that you should seek specific guidance on any particular legal issue.
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