Construction workers have broken ground on new purpose-built facilities in Ellon, Aberdeenshire, for subsea contractor Film-Ocean.
The bespoke development is due for completion in late summer 2022, the company said on 10 January.
Film-Ocean is part of French offshore services company Stapem.
It supplies vehicle inspection and intervention services to the global offshore energy industry using remotely-operated vehicles (ROVs).
The company said it was making a “significant” investment in Ellon but declined to say how much.
Film-Ocean added its new building at Balmacassie Industrial Estate would accommodate the “demands and needs of the business” and its employees, with modern office, meeting and conference facilities, as it continued to grow.
The firm currently occupies a building elsewhere on the estate, which is also home to craft beer-maker BrewDog, and it said it was rapidly running out of space.
Scott Jenney, chief executive, Film-Ocean, said: “2021 was an extremely busy year.
“Our growth has allowed us to introduce several new job roles within the business – it’s great to be able to welcome new highly talented work colleagues to the team.
“Recent investments have enabled us to offer further support to our clients.
“For example, the addition of larger, work-class ROV assets has enabled us to expand our capabilities significantly and deliver on work scopes we would previously have not been in a position to support.
“As we near capacity in our current site in Ellon, we look forward to the development and completion of our new facilities later this year.”
Mr Jenny said the new building and its “bespoke, modern well-designed facilities and IT infrastructure” would help to bring employees together to collaborate, create and be innovative.
He added: “It will also ensure that our fleet of ROV assets are maintained and tested to the highest standards possible.
“The additional capacity also allows us to develop and implement our remote operations support service, which will deliver enhanced efficiency and benefits to our clients.”
A key part of new test facilities being created is a 176.5 cubic feet test tank, with a flow generator to simulate subsurface currents, and an overhead gantry crane to accommodate wet testing of ROVs and tooling.
The new building will also feature an observation viewing platform for visitors, inspection areas, technical auditing facilities and a dedicated control room to support remote inspection and ROV operations.
Film-Ocean said it continued to invest “significantly” in expanding its ROV fleet.
Recent additions include a Schilling heavy-duty work class ROV and an SMD Quasar 150HP work class ROV.
This story was amended to make clear that Film-Ocean is part of French offshore services company Stapem and not Saipem, as first reported. We are sorry for any confusion caused.
