RGF Government Grant to Create Seabed Mapping Jobs

Wirral Council's (UK) successful Regional Growth Fund (RGF) bid for GBP5 million of government funding is being used to help a local business create new jobs in the offshore renewable energy sector. Seabed mapping company Osiris Projects is supported to access an RGF grant with the aim of creating 60 new science and technology-related jobs at its headquarters in Bromborough, Wirral.

Osiris Projects is skilled in the acquisition, interpretation and presentation of seabed and sub-seabed data. While the offshore renewables sector accounts for the majority of their business, Osiris Projects also works for clients within the oil and gas, subsea cables, port and harbour, aggregates and utilities industries. Commonly provided services include cable and pipeline route surveys and inspection, site and debris clearance surveys, scour monitoring and unexploded ordnance surveys, using a range of data acquisition sensors and positioning equipment.
 
Leader of Wirral Council, Cllr Phil Davies, said that Osiris Projects is exactly the type of company that should be using RGF to support. It has a trading history in a growth industry and has a solid plan in place to implement its growth strategy. It is increasingly using its base in Wirral to win work in the offshore wind industry in both the UK and Europe. Renewable energy is identified as a particular growth sector for the Liverpool City Region and the RGF grant will allow Osiris to expand its current suite of services and employ more people in Wirral.
 
The RGF grant will enable Osiris Projects to continue its sustainable growth to meet increasing demand from offshore renewables and from the offshore industry as a whole. The company can focus on improving its geotechnical offering and investing in new, more efficient cable depth of burial surveying methods, which represents a key challenge for offshore renewables transmission.
 
RenewableUK, the trade body for the UK wind and marine renewables sector recently published its study: Working for a Green Britain Volume 2 which found that:

• The wind, wave and tidal energy sector directly employs 18,465 people full time.
• The sector also supports 15,908 indirect jobs, making a total of over 34,300 employees 
• Number of employees in offshore wind has doubled since 2010.
• More than 70,000 jobs could be created over the next decade.
• 91% of the industry’s jobs in the UK are currently filled by UK citizens.
• North West benefiting from the growth in offshore wind industry and supply chain