Osiris Projects Nears Completion of Highlands & Islands Works

Osiris Projects is nearing completion of the ambitious works on the subsea cabling project which will help deliver fast, fibre optic broadband to the Highlands and Islands.

In March 2013, BT was awarded a contract by Highlands & Islands Enterprise (HIE) to deliver high speed fibre optic broadband across the Highlands & Islands region. This project will deliver fibre optic broadband to around 84% of homes and businesses in the region by the end of 2016. The public sector investment towards the contract is $213 million, with BT investing $32.6 million in the project, taking the total value of the contract to around $246 million.

Chelmsford-based Global Marine Systems were appointed to conduct detailed marine route planning and supply the cables for the project.

Osiris Projects, based in Bromborough on the Wirral, are experts in seabed mapping and coastal survey and as such were appointed to carry out the detailed seabed mapping along all potential routes which is critical to determine route development and cable installation.

There were a number of key operational factors which favored Osiris Projects’ appointment to the contract.

Being specialists in the coastal environment around the UK provides Osiris Projects with an exceptional knowledge of the challenging environments being encountered.

Furthermore Osiris Projects ability to be able to survey multiple routes at the same time, and work on such a complex job, effectively 20 projects built into 1, was another plus which lead to the appointment.

The Project Manager for Highlands & Islands, Gareth Stevens, commented: “The complexity of this project means there’s been a huge amount of transiting, scheduling and project work to ensure we provided each route complete and delivered a full service from shore to shore. The project has been very challenging as each environment has presented its own individual test.”

The survey work is due to be completed shortly allowing the next phase of the project to commence.