In the summer, a group from the business did a fantastic fundraising walk from our Head Office to Mersea Island. The challenging 60km route was no mean feat, and thanks to their efforts, with support from colleagues, family and friends, the team raised a whopping £2,000 for the Motor Neurone Disease Association.
We spoke to one of the volunteers taking part and helping raise vital money for the MNDA, Claire. Claire works at our head office, in our finance team as a business partner for fleet.
“When I saw that the business was promoting the MeaNDa, I was really intrigued. I’ve never done anything like it before, but I wanted to join it and challenge myself to walk a distance that to me seemed impossible!
The charity we were supporting is so important too, it’s such a debilitating disease and anything we can do to contribute helps, the aches and pains you suffer walking that far seem like nothing in comparison.”
How did you prepare for the big day?
“Craig did all the hard work organising and planning all the routes which was a big task! In terms of training, we did weekly 5km lunchtime walks from the office which were great to build the base fitness, a good excuse to take a break for our desks and get some fresh air and of course break in those walking boots properly! And then nearer to the day we did a series of longer walks to build up the distance further.”
There must have been highs and lows along the 60km way?
“Of course – lots of both of them! Luckily we had fantastic weather and the Essex countryside that we were walking through was absolutely beautiful – it really did showcase the best of Essex. The group atmosphere was great, we had lots of chat and laughs, with Angela taking the role of DJ and morale booster for the last half of the walk which everyone embraced.
Whilst the great weather was a bonus, it was a bit extreme at some points and it was the heat that was really the biggest challenge for me. The sun was beating down on us all day, with very little breeze, and a constant battle to keep hydrated. The walking itself was surprisingly fine – when you have such amazing scenery and good company it’s easy for the time, and miles, to pass by. I think that was the great thing about it being a walk though – anyone can join in.”
Have you done much volunteering or charity work before?
“I haven’t really, but I’ll definitely take part in next year’s big challenge – it would be great to get even more involved next year to support with the planning and promotion to make it bigger and better that what we achieved this year. It’s also opened up the thought of doing more voluntary work in the future as well – perhaps something in the local community such as tree planting, or park clean ups etc.
The volunteering programme run by the business is a great initiative. Giving employees up to three days a year for volunteering activities not only helps charities but it’s also important way to allow staff to showcase and support the issues that are important to them.”
Earlier this month, we held our Annual Awards Evening, recognising employees and teams both on and offshore right across Global Marine Group.
Designed to reward and recognise outstanding achievements over the last 12 months, the categories reflect the businesses underpinning values. Over 150 nominations were made by peers throughout the company.
Congratulations to this year’s awards winners:
Offshore Individual: Samantha Mason
Second Officer, Samantha, was chosen as the winner for this category for her outstanding response to Covid-19.
Onshore Individual: Rebecca Hughes
Fleet Resourcing Manager, Rebecca was selected as a winner for this category for her ability to hit the ground running and make an immediate difference within the company.
Offshore Team: C.S. Sovereign
The C.S. Sovereign crew were nominated for their fortitude and resilience in the face of extremely challenging conditions. A big congratulations to the whole team.
Onshore Team: Roz Johnson and the Accounts Payable Team
This team has been recognised multiple times for their dedication and hard work, and for going to extra mile to ensure the business remained operational.
Excellence & Capability: Carla Bennet
Subsea Operations Administrator, Carla was selected as the winner of our Excellence and Capability Award due to her dedication and commitment to the company, her ability to go above and beyond their job role and for always being helpful.
Innovation: Brian Perratt
Global Support Services Manager, Brian has been recognised by his peers for approaching product development with flare and passion, and creating a positive impact on the business.
Customer Focus: Plamen Katsanski
The winner of our Customer Focus Award, IT Analyst Plamen, is highly regarded by his peers and always has the customers’ requirements in mind. Plamen has qualities, which have been described as ‘a great ambassador and attribute to their team and the wider business’.
Commercial Focus: Liam Cairney
The winner of the Commercial Focus Award was Proposals Engineer, Liam, who has been described as having exceptional dedication, commitment, and work ethic and always going above and beyond in his role.
Corporate Citizen: Andy Newman
Engineering Manager, Andy won this award due to his proactive approach in ensuring that our graduates and apprentices are fully supported and getting the right type of developmental experience.
Covid Hero: Elliot Gaitch
This special category introduced this year will recognise an individual that has not only gone above and beyond in their role during the pandemic, but has demonstrated their commitment to the Global Marine Group culture and values outside of their role within the business, supporting local communities or volunteering for others that have been in real need.
Second Officer Elliot, was nominated multiple times by his peers, and has been described as ‘a truly worthy Covid hero’.
Safety Champion: Jon Geddes
Jon has shown real diligence in his training and assessment of CTV Masters and Crew which has made a significant contribution to the reduction in incidents within the CWind fleet. Jon’s authenticity and setting of extremely high standards in his execution deserves to be recognised and makes him a worthy winner of the award.
Directors’ Choice: Dave Whiting
The Directors choice award this year goes to Dave, RQHSE Officer, who has been instrumental in ensuring that the business has continued to keep going despite the challenges of Covid. Dave have provided constant support to the Global Marine business unit over the past year and is always quick to respond to enquiries, supporting as best he can in every situation. A truly worthy award winner.
Congratulations and thank you to all our winners, shortlisted colleagues and nominees this year!
International Women in Engineering Day (#INWED21) takes place on 23 June. We hope by sharing some of Global Marine Group’s success stories, we can help to raise the profile of women engineers across the globe, and encourage more people to consider engineering as a profession for all.
INWED is an international awareness campaign which raises the profile of women in engineering and focuses attention on the amazing career opportunities available to women and girls in this exciting industry.
Shannon Gray
“If you want to be a successful engineer then you have to be passionate about it.”
Lisbeth Sorensen
“My advice to anyone interested in becoming an engineer, would be education first and foremost.”
Ramona Vryonides
“Whatever type of engineering you specialize in, your work will focus on solving complex problems – a skill that is highly sought after in all sorts of industries.”
Next week, a team of 26 amateur and enthusiastic riders from Global Marine, CWind and Global Offshore, all part of the Global Marine Group, will be taking part in a cycling challenge raising money for our two corporate charities. Having previously cycled from Chelmsford to our Portland Depot, and from our offices in Grimsby to our Blyth Hub, this year the much anticipated cycling challenge will once again begin at our Head Office in Chelmsford. After the initial trepidation has subsided, the team will finish the first day of the ride 200 kilometres later in Lowestoft, the location of our CWind Training facilities. The following day will see the team cycling around East Anglia, taking in the views of the many wind farms dotted along the coastline, finishing in Kings Lynn, taking the two-day distance to over 350 kilometres.
For some of the riders, the challenge won’t end there; a large portion of the team will be cycling back to Chelmsford or Grimsby on day 3 of the ride, to finish the weekend with a whopping 500 kilometres of cycling completed.
It is not only a personal challenge for the riders but an excellent opportunity to raise sponsorship for two very worthwhile charities, The Jubilee Sailing Trust (jst.org.uk) and the Ninos Pag-Asa Orphanage. The JST takes both disabled and able-bodied people to sea on their purpose-built tall ships, promoting equality, sharing, and to celebrate individual differences by working together to achieve greater things. The Orphanage is a charity very close to our hearts here at Global Marine Group, having supported the centre and children there in the Philippines for over 20 years.
GMG would like to thank suppliers, partners and friends who have kindly sponsored the event: Port of Blyth, Pharos, MODUS, TEXO, Tekmar, World Fuel Services, JME and Power CSL. To make a donation in support of both charities, please click here: https://give.everydayhero.com/uk/global-marine-group-the-pedal-2019/
Global Marine Group (GMG), supported by its business units Global Marine, Global Offshore and CWind, has signed a framework agreement for cable repair with offshore wind farm developer and operator Ørsted.
Launching on 25th June, the framework becomes a part of the Atlantic Cable Maintenance Agreement (ACMA) which is delivered by GMG alongside zone partner Orange Marine. Should the dedicated ACMA vessel, C.S. Sovereign, be unavailable due to other commitments within the zone, this agreement extends Ørsted’s access to other assets in the Group’s fleet including the Global Symphony, ASV Pioneer and CTVs for ancillary services.
With some 1,150 turbines already installed offshore, Ørsted is the world’s leading operator providing 13 million people with clean electricity. The agreement covers most of the organisation’s UK offshore wind farm portfolio, including almost 900km of subsea array cable.
Benj Sykes, UK Country Manager for Ørsted’s offshore activities, said, “We have been looking for a solution which wraps all of our maintenance and replacement cable work into a single service provider, and we are pleased to be working with the Global Marine Group alongside ACMA and its members. Many of our wind farm sites operate in close proximity to telecoms cable already installed on the seabed, so the combined experience within the Group of working with both fibre optic and power cables and the depth of their collective resources, gives us absolute confidence in our chosen solution for the future.”
Alasdair Wilkie, Chairman at ACMA, commented, “ACMA is a non-profit co-operative subsea maintenance agreement consisting of 60+ organisations in the Atlantic, North Sea and South Eastern Pacific Ocean. We’ve worked successfully with Global Marine for many years to address the needs of our members and are looking forward to sharing our best-practice within telecoms to help forge the future of power cable maintenance.”
The framework also gives Ørsted access to the rest of the Group for offshore services with Global Offshore managing and conducting power cable replacement, and repairs supported by CWind including in-situ repairs, working to rectify faults within the confined space of each affected turbine. CWind could support Ørsted by providing temporary power for both planned and unplanned power outages, logistics and personnel, plus any necessary cable pull-in teams, termination and testing.
Ian Douglas, CEO at Global Marine Group, added, “Cable maintenance is intrinsic to our business, and having been a key service provider to ACMA and other maintenance zones for many years, we will be able to marry this historic telecom experience with the Group’s power cable experience associated with our participation in the post-millennium offshore renewables boom.”
Mr. Douglas continued, “This is a pioneering commercial and technical approach to power cable maintenance and repair, and we believe will set the blueprint for the future of combined cable and subsea asset agreements which brings about benefits for everyone across multiple industries.”
Global Marine Group (GMG), has worked in close collaboration with offshore technology company Osbit and its first confirmed client for the new plough, Vattenfall, to design the tool to meet genuine market demand. The plough is optimised to help deliver reductions in the cost of offshore wind installation and to minimise project risk by combining operations to reduce the time required to install subsea cables.
The plough offers unrivalled single pass capability, which enables boulder clearance and pre-trenching up to 1.7m in a single run, leaving a boulder cleared swathe and a ‘backfill-ready’ open trench with segregated spoil. The plough is also fully subsea adjustable and features an extensive surveillance suite for accurate and effective trenching.
The plough can be reconfigured into backfill mode, which uses the same control and surveillance suite to monitor the cable and trench profile, enabling reliable backfilling whilst ensuring the safety of the cable at all times. Osbit’s innovative forward skid arrangement and surveillance equipment provide market-leading levels of cable integrity assurance.
Martyn Drye, Director of Engineering at Global Marine Group, said, “Our new PLP240 will allow us to reduce the time to first power production by shortening the wind farm construction phase, and therefore delivering an earlier return on investment for our developer clients. Through intelligent engineering alongside the Osbit team, we’ve created a versatile solution which integrates cable route preparation, cable laying and trenching – an industry first. The PLP240 complements our existing fleet of subsea trenchers and ploughs, offering clients a solution that’s right for them no matter in which subsea sector they operate.”
Osbit Director Robbie Blakeman commented, “We are very proud to have delivered this class-leading subsea plough to Global Marine Group. We are committed to developing globally innovative subsea trenching solutions using our proven modular technology and the delivery of this project reinforces the effectiveness of this approach”
Mr. Blakeman continued, “I would like to thank Global Marine Group and Vattenfall for their genuine collaboration, which was key in supporting the project’s smooth execution, as well as our local supply chain, which played a major part in enabling this successful delivery.”
Following contract award in January, Osbit completed final assembly and sign-off at the company’s Port of Blyth assembly facility, at the end of May. The PLP240 will undergo rigorous wet testing before commencing work on Vattenfall’s Danish Kriegers Flak project in 2020.
Currently the primary charity supported by the company is the Ninos Pag Asa Centre, based in Olongapo, Philippines. It is an orphanage for those who are not cared for nor looked after by any other agency. It is authorised and licensed to operate as a social work agency giving medical assistance, educational programmes, skills training and community based rehabilitation. The centre not only look after those who are resident, but also educate and assist other children and adults in the local community.
Global Marine has been supporting the centre since Cable Retriever arrived in 1998. The Captain of the Cable Retriever, together with the Make a Difference Team (MAD), in the UK take responsibility for supporting the orphanage and organise many activities to this end throughout the year.
Since 2015, the company has supported Brainwave, a charity offering therapy to children with disabilities and additional needs to help them achieve their potential. After an initial assessment Brainwave therapists devise a structured exercise therapy programme for each child with is based on the theory of neuroplasticity,helping the brain find new pathways in the ‘neural network’ by providing regular repetition of newly acquired skills.
Acquisition Further Positions Global Marine Group for Significant Offshore Power Market Opportunities
Chelmsford, Friday 1st December 2017. Global Marine Group (“GMG”), a market leader in offshore engineering services to the telecommunications, renewables and oil & gas industries, announced today that it has completed its previously announced acquisition of Fugro N.V.’s (“Fugro”) (AMS:FUR) trenching and cable lay services business.
The Fugro acquisition significantly enhances GMG’s portfolio of service offerings to the market, with a comprehensive range of integrated services that enable GMG to complete additional packages of work in direct response to market demands. The transaction also provides GMG with highly capable, proven assets, including 23 employees located in Aberdeen, that have a successful track record of delivering complex subsea engineering projects to offshore customers globally. For example, the M/V Symphony, a multi-purpose vessel built in 2011 with an extensive 1,400m2 deck space, has recently joined GMG’s cable installation and maintenance fleet. In addition, GMG has added two powerful Q1400 trenchers and two work class remotely operated vehicles to its offering. As part of this transaction, Fugro will become the preferred provider of marine site characterisation and asset integrity services to GMG.
“We believe this acquisition has two key benefits, meeting the needs of our customers, while at the same time strengthening GMG’s market position in offshore power,” said Ian Douglas, Chief Executive Officer of GMG. “I’m delighted to welcome on board such a well-respected group of people led by Mike Daniel, and I look forward to seeing the contribution they will make to the Global Marine Group over the coming months.”
Mike Daniel, manager of the trenching and cable lay services business, added, “We have an excellent track record in the offshore renewables and oil & gas sectors. As a team, we have been involved in the installation of more than 470 power cables, recently completing the installation of 122 cables at the Rampion Offshore Wind Farm. We have also successfully completed the trenching of the export cable and inter array cables on the world’s first floating wind farm, Hywind Scotland, off the coast of Aberdeenshire, demonstrating our innovative industry leading approach. Moving forward, we will continue to support existing and new customers alike, utilising our skill set to support the wider business goals of Global Marine Group.”
Global Marine Group (GMG) has launched a new Safety, Security and Environmental Management System (SSEMS).
The system has been organised, planned and implemented by GMG to ensure the safety and operational excellence of its people and assets, as well as to safeguard the environment. Structured to meet the requirements of the Offshore Vessel Management and Self-Assessment (OVMSA) programme. Along with the stipulations set out in the International Safety Management (ISM) Code, the new SSEMS enhances the Company’s regulatory compliance and supports the continual evolution of industry standards.
Safety is the number one priority at GMG, Global Marine and CWind, and we are proud to have completed 1.65 million working hours in 2016 without a single injury, a remarkable achievement given the potentially hazardous environments in which our people and assets operate.
As well as OVMSA and the ISM Code, the new SSEMS supports GMG’s status as an active member of the International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA); staff from the Company’s RQHSE (Risk Quality Health Safety & Environment) team sit on IMCA’s HSSE (Health, Safety, Security & Environment) committee. GMG is also proud to hold the Order of Distinction, an honour bestowed by RoSPA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents) on organisations achieving a minimum of 15 consecutive Gold Awards (GMG has 18). Gold Awards are presented in recognition of outstanding occupational health and safety standards.
Chelmsford, Tuesday 5 September 2017. The Global Marine Group (GMG), a market leader in offshore engineering services to the renewables, telecommunications and oil & gas industries, has achieved the Order of Distinction Award (18 consecutive Golds) in the prestigious annual scheme run by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA). GMG consists of two business units: CWind, delivering the Company’s power capabilities, and Global Marine, providing fibre optic cable solutions to multiple sectors.
Now in its 61st year, the RoSPA Awards scheme is open to businesses of all types and sizes worldwide. Judges consider entrants’ overarching occupational health and safety management systems, including practices such as leadership and workforce involvement.
“The Order of Distinction award from RoSPA highlights Global Marine Group’s passion and dedication to providing consistently high levels of health and safety,” said Ian Douglas, Chief Executive Officer of Global Marine Group. “In our business, we consistently work across potentially hazardous sectors, and safety is our number one priority. Achieving 18 consecutive Golds is a significant achievement, demonstrating the daily commitment to safety by our onshore and offshore teams.”
“The RoSPA Awards are the most prestigious in the world of occupational health and safety, and are held in high regard around the world,” said Julia Small, RoSPA’s head of awards and events. “Achieving this standard of excellence demonstrates Global Marine Group’s commitment to maintaining an excellent health and safety record. We extend them our congratulations.”
For more information about the RoSPA Awards visit www.rospa.com/awards
