Subsea Innovation Starts Work on New Darlington Headquarters

Subsea Innovation, one of the world’s leading subsea equipment suppliers, has officially started work on its new headquarters, which will potentially help secure larger contracts and create more jobs in the North East of England.

The Darlington based company is building a new factory and office space after its expanding operations outgrew the capacity of its existing Faverdale North site.

The construction work is being carried out by local contractors J and RM Richardson and was designed by Darlington’s Architects Design Group.

The new development will be double the size of Subsea’s current base and opens up the potential to double its workforce to more than 70. It will also enable the company to handle larger demands from the oil, gas and renewable energy industries.

Once finished the Darlington headquarters will cover 40,000sq ft and is expected to be completed in August.

Subsea Innovation’s annual turnover exceeded £10m for the first time in its history in 2013, up from £7.5m in 2012. The company designs and manufactures offshore equipment handling systems, pipeline repair systems and subsea sealing systems.

Martin Moon, Managing Director at Subsea Innovation, said: “The new building will allow us to build bigger machines and carry out increased testing, so we don’t have to use external facilities.

“The fact the new facility will have extra height means we can install larger cranage and it will also allow us to develop the research and development side further too.

“I always envisaged the company would double in size, and by increasing it means we can look at larger work.

“Last year, I believe we would have got a big A-Frame order from a client if we had a bigger facility, so this move is a very positive one.

“We wanted to stay in the region and looked at other places, but Darlington had everything to keep us local.

“You have to be flexible and ready to move rapidly in this industry, and such an investment will allow us to do that and strengthen our future.

“It is all about getting your customers and keeping them for life.”

Press Release, January 16, 2014; Image: Subsea Innovation