Energy service firm Baker Hughes is reshuffling its north-east facilities footprint once more in an effort to “drive synergies” and improve conditions for staff.
The company is investing millions of pounds in two of its facilities in the region while vacating two others as part of a “relocation exercise”.
Baker Hughes will reoccupy its base on Broadfold Road, Bridge of Don, with a grand reopening ceremony expected in the coming months.
The firm announced in October 2017 that it was moving operations away from that facility to a new £31 million centre of excellence in Montrose, which opened in mid-2019.
Eighty-five employees will move to Broadfold Road from a base in Inverurie, which will close, along with 40 staff members from a site in Altens Industrial Estate, which will be kept in the firm’s portfolio.
Romain Chambault, European vice president for oilfield equipment at Baker Hughes, said Broadfold Road would be a “big service centre” handling a range of activities, including equipment rental and repair.
Baker Hughes will also transfer 155 office-based employees from its property at Kirkhill Industrial Estate, Dyce, to its nearby north of Scotland headquarters at Stoneywood Park.
Its oilfield service and oilfield equipment teams are being brought together under one roof at Stoneywood, which reopened in 2018 following a £3m refurbishment.
Mr Chambault said the 600 employees at the HQ would be able to enjoy a mixture of home and office-based working under a new “flexible model”, once the pandemic lifts.
He said Baker Hughes had made a good fist of adapting to working-from-home conditions during the pandemic.
But he sensed “fatigue” among employees and said the company was “actively” looking to address the issue.
The facility at Kirkhill Industrial Estate will remain open and receive investment, becoming a specialist centre for assembly, maintenance and overhaul, staffed initially by 39 workers.
Mr Chambault said the investments in Bridge of Don and Dyce were evidence of Baker Hughes’ commitment to the north-east and North Sea industry.
He also said Baker Hughes’ “fantastic” field service and workshop employees deserved special “kudos” for maintaining operations “safely and successfully” throughout the pandemic.
And he said the 620 employees at the subsea centre of excellence in Montrose had been very busy during the last 18 months and were managing to work through a backlog of orders.
The company stressed the relocation exercise was driven by a desire to optimise its facilities portfolio and wouldn’t lead to headcount reductions, which are often associated with the word “synergy”.
Asked whether Baker Hughes had reduced its north-east headcount during the pandemic, Mr Chambault acknowledged the business had done “some restructuring”.
The company took steps to address its huge north-east office and workshop footprint during and after its merger with General Electric’s oil and gas business in 2017, a deal which created Baker Hughes, a GE company (BHGE).
The portfolio reorganisation has continued at Baker Hughes, which regained its independence in 2019 when a share sale resulted in GE surrendering its majority ownership of the business.
Baker Hughes’ facility in Portlethen remains open and operational, while premises at Aberdeen Innovation Park, which were put on the market in 2016, are still on its books.
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