For the first time, Global Marine Systems Limited, has hosted its own awards ceremony. Designed to reward and recognise outstanding achievements of employees and projects right across the business, nominations were made by peers throughout the company. 

The company Mission Statement; “To be the first choice provider of global offshore marine engineering services, recognised by our customers for our commitment to quality in everything we deliver” and core values; Respect, Achievement, Accountability and Results formed the basis of the awards that were held in June at Vaulty Manor, Maldon.

One hundred and nineteen people were present for the evening and included colleagues from Singapore, Portsmouth, the fleet and recently acquired CWind.

Congratulations to our award winners:

ACHIEVEMENT: Awarded to Stuart Wilson, Route Engineering Manager, to recognise innovation in the workplace. His nominations described him as a positive, professional person, who inspires confidence with his exceptional knowledge about the business.

EXCELLENCE: This particular award was created to recognise an individual who has exhibited outstanding dedication and commitment to their role; delivering on goals by being results focused and uncompromising on the quality of their performance.  Our winner, Steve Holden, Maintenance Account Director, was awarded for showing an extensive knowledge in his field, outstanding dedication and incredible passion and enthusiasm.

RESPECT: Awarded to the travel team; Alex Askew and Gary Rayner; who were described as ‘courteous’, ‘professional’ and ‘supportive’ and for whom ‘no request is too much trouble’.

ACCOUNTABILITY: Presented to Dave Dunk, Jointing Instructor, for his infectious enthusiasm, positivity and regular contributions to charity, both in work through fundraising activities and commitment to supporting colleagues and outside of work running external sporting clubs and events. 

SAFETY: Safety is at the core of Global Marine’s business; demonstrated by the RoSPA Order of Distinction held by the company in recognition of 16 consecutive years of outstanding occupational health and safety results.  This award, collected by Captain Shaun Beal, went to the team on board of the vessel Cable Innovator for an outstanding safety record and for delivering challenging projects consistently. 

TRUST: Awarded to Darren Lam, in his role as Senior Project Manager, for this his commitment and dedication to the job, working to build strong relationships both offshore and onshore. 

EXTRAORDINARY ENGINEERING: This award recognised the extraordinary engineering feat involved in the dry tow of the company’s vessel Networker to Alaska for the currently active Quintillion project.  Andy Lloyd, Installations Director, explained, “We’ve never done anything like this before, it was a huge achievement shows how well we can pull together as a team.”  The team included: Michael Finnerty, Hamish Yates, Richard Jones, Andy McAreavey, Paul Thomas and Sarah Morris.

DIRECTORS’ CHOICE AWARD: Chris Butler, Shallow Water Manager/Solution Design Manager, received this award having been nominated from across the business in three separate award categories.  He was noted for his ability to inspire others around him and time-and-time again deliver for the business using innovative approaches to overcome technical challenges.

With National Women in Engineering Day set for 23 June, UK-headquartered Global Marine Systems Limited, the world leader in subsea system design, installation and maintenance, has been canvassing the views of a selection of female engineers employed within the business about the opportunities and challenges of working in the engineering industry.

Philippa Warren, for example, has been a Proposals Engineer in the company’s Sales & Commercial Department since January 2015. “My qualifications and previous experience allowed me to look at a wide range of career options, however, the responsibilities, scope to learn and day-to-day diversity of this role really caught my eye,” she says. Philippa adds that Global Marine has given her opportunity to deal with complex projects and liaise with clients around the world.

Proposals Engineers at Global Marine enjoy a varied role with many responsibilities, such as developing the technical, commercial and financial solution as contract bids progress, liaising with relevant project stakeholders, and ensuring proposals adhere to consistent corporate standards, target costs and at all times meeting the customer’s expectations.

“Every day is different and because of that I am always learning something new,” says Philippa. “Engineering is not just for men and can provide a diverse and fulfilling career path to women.”

Among Philippa’s colleagues is Sam Moncur, a fellow Proposals Engineer flying the flag for women in engineering at Global Marine. Sam says that the role allows her the opportunity to work with many different departments, gaining knowledge and obtaining new skills for career development.

“I previously worked in the Subsea department, then Global Marine invested in the necessary training for me to move in a different direction,” she says. “I love working here as every day results in learning something new about the business and our sector, which keeps me motivated. Engineering is very male dominated, but being a woman within the industry makes you individual, unique and in some ways more determined.”

Another female employee at Global Marine is Sheryl Ong, based in Singapore, who despite only being employed in her role as a Proposals Engineer for a short time, is relishing the opportunity to further both her technical knowledge and her career.

“It’s good to go against the stereotype that engineering is only for men,” she says. “It is also fun to learn about the physics of engineering, rather than just accepting things as they are.”

Although Sheryl is happy to recommend a career in engineering for women, she also says that careful consideration is required.

“In my opinion, unless they have the necessary passion, it is not a career suitable for all women,” she states. “They need to have a certain amount of technical inclination, love formulae in one way or another, and be comfortable in a male dominated environment. You need a strong character in order to stand your ground.”

Educational experiences can have a powerful impact on our chosen career paths and that is precisely why the subsea installation and maintenance specialist, Global Marine Systems Limited, with joint venture partner Huawei Marine Networks (HMN), has consistently supported the Engineering Education Scheme (EES), organised by the Engineering Development Trust.

Adrian Jarvis of HMN mentored and worked with a team of four young women from the Brentwood Ursuline Convent High School; Charlotte Buttery, Abbie Cook, Jahnina Queddeng and Alicia Trew.  It is a collaboration that has resulted in these talented students being declared the winners among eight competing teams across the East of England at the Celebration and Assessment Day held at PROCAT on 29th April this year.

The team’s hard work has subsequently been rewarded with an invitation to the South East Regional Final of the EES Contribution to Business Awards in London on 30th June 2016 and potentially the chance to compete in the National Final in September. And, most importantly, this experience has fuelled the students’ enthusiasm to pursue a career in engineering.

The EES is a national scheme that links student teams and their teacher with local engineering companies to work together on a project. In the case of the Brentwood Ursuline students, the task was to design, manufacture and test a novel solution that would assist in the maintenance of transatlantic cables. They chose to create a manually operated tar removal device.

Strict project specifications were established by the team, guided by Adrian Jarvis and Mr. Dif, the Head of Physics at the school who helped supervise the project.  Having designed the initial prototype with CAD, ‘The Tarminator’ was then created using 3D printing, thoroughly tested and refined.

“I really enjoyed working with engineers and I definitely want to do engineering at university now,” said Charlotte Buttery.  “We have set up our own science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) club because we really want other girls to know how fun and interesting engineering is.”

As well as receiving the good news that they are now finalists, in the EES Contribution to Business Awards, the young engineers have the satisfaction of knowing ‘The Tarminator’ also has a bright future.  HMN plans to take the prototype through the commercialisation process, with the view to it becoming a standard piece of equipment. Additionally, Global Marine will look to adopt this innovative tool across their fleet.

On Saturday 18th June five very brave Global Marine colleagues took on the challenge of the Great East Swim held in Alton Water, Suffolk.

Along with almost 300 other swimmers, Dave Dunk, Spike Johns, Alex Riddell and John Wrottesley took to the lake on what was a grey, damp and windy day, tackling the choppy waters for 2 miles. Stuart Wilson, who entered the 1/2 mile race, came running up the finishing ramp in a very impressive 18mins 04 seconds – 6th in his category.

A big thank you to everyone who has sponsored the team already and raised £245 for Brainwave, one of our corporate charities, and £160 for the Royal Life Saving Society so far. More donations are still very welcome at the team’s JustGiving page: /www.justgiving.com/teams/GlobalMarineEastSwim