Member Article

Durham’s Dyer Engineering creates 25 new jobs following £2.5 million investment

Durham-based fabrication and engineering company Dyer Engineering is set to expand as part of a £2.5 million investment programme.

The programme, which includes a £651k Regional Growth Fund grant secured through the Let’s Grow Fund, will allow Dyer to increase the size of its manufacturing facilities to almost 90,000 sq. ft.

The expansion will allow the company to meet the demand for its fabrication and machining services from the oil & gas and subsea industries.

The company has reached an agreement for a long-term lease on premises in Harelaw, which has created an additional 58,000 sq. ft. of production capacity and enabled the company to become one of the largest precision machining and fabrication businesses in the North East.

The expansion has already created 25 new jobs with plans to increase the workforce from 125 to 160 within the next two years, which includes a commitment to maintain its 10 percent ratio of apprentices.

The new facility will be utilised for the production of larger, bespoke fabrications to complement the Annfield Plain site, which will focus on repeat, batch production products. Located within two miles of its existing site, the new facility includes full overhead craneage as well as offering office and meeting spaces.

Dyer Engineering has also created a dedicated 14,000 sq. ft. department for the fabrication of high integrity structure in stainless steel and aluminium to enable the company to deliver the standard of low corrosion metal work required by the subsea and offshore sectors.

Also within the new facility is a new Client Assembly Space, which offers customers the option to subcontract the manufacture and paint fabrications with Dyer Engineering and then utilise this space to complete the final build stages of their products.

This area is supported by six acres of hard-standing, which enables the construction of large assemblies.

Alongside the additional new facilities, Dyer Engineering is expanding its production capabilities with investments in new manufacturing technology.

It has already purchased and installed an ESAB CNC-controlled profile cutting system and a £0.5 million bed-type milling machine has been ordered and will be in place before the end of the year.

Dyer Engineering, which is a member of energy sector business development organisation, NOF Energy, is aiming to follow up these investments at the start of 2015 with the creation of a new 10,000 sq. ft. Shot-Blast and Paint Facility.

The new facility will operate to stringent NORSOK standards, which are a requirement of the offshore sector and will enable the company to bring previously sub-contracted paint projects in-house.

Managing Director of Dyer Engineering, Graeme Parkins, said: “These investments will support our growth plans through the creation of a more comprehensive and specialist manufacturing service to the sectors we serve.

“The offshore sector has proven to be a real growth market for Dyer Engineering and this programme of investments will allow us to not only increase the size of the projects we can deliver but also the complexity and exacting standards of contractors and manufacturers in the oil & gas and subsea industries.”

Business Development Manager, at NOF Energy, Paul Livingstone, said: “Dyer Engineering is experiencing the benefits of entering the offshore sector supply chain and this investment will help bolster their position in the market.

“It is an excellent example of how companies with transferable skills and services, which are in demand from the oil & gas and subsea sectors, can achieve further success and growth.”