More than 100 new jobs will be created at Lowestoft by the marine service company which won the £25million contract to support construction of the Galloper offshore wind farm.
Supply chain companies in Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth that can provide the specialist services that James Fisher and Sons will need during its two and a half-year contract are also invited to get in touch with the company.
So far, every new employee appointed by James Fisher and Sons for the wind farm project has lived within 20 miles of Lowestoft, James Fisher and Sons’ business development director Martin Dronfield, told an East of England Energy Group (EEEGR) event focused on the Southern North Sea.
“The skills locally have pleasantly surprised us,” he said.
“There is a lot of trust and belief being invested in the skills in the area. There is a great deal more than money going on in the emergence of the renewable sector down the east energy coast.”
The company’s Offshore Services Contract (OSC) for Galloper would create about 110 new jobs, mostly in the Lowestoft area, for a construction support base for the £1.5bn Galloper, the 336MW wind farm which will power 336,000 homes being developed by RWE Innogy, 27km off the Suffolk coast.
James Fisher was currently preparing offices for 120 people in Lowestoft, which will be the “nerve base” for Galloper’s construction and where James Fisher’s pioneering Offshore Wind Management System (OWMS), developed in OrbisEnergy, will be used.
The company will prepare all transit facilities for the offshore wind farm.
The new jobs will be in three teams, including a team in OrbisEnergy, Lowestoft, and technicians offshore.
Toby Edmonds, project director of Galloper, said: “The great thing about Lowestoft port is that it is ready to go as a base. We don’t have to make huge investment at the port for it to be ready.
“We are making modest investment there. The more projects that get built off shore, the less infrastructure will be needed at the ports for each project.”
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