Local mayor pitches on future of multi-million pound Teesside International Airport plans

Today (January 30), Tees Valley Mayor, Ben Houchen met senior offshore wind chiefs to boost plans for a heliport at Teesside International Airport to support a £3.2bn wind project.

Investors SSE and Norwegian energy giant Equinor are set to be based at the airport to operate and service the world’s largest wind project, Dogger Bank.

Under the plans unveiled earlier this month, the operations and maintenance base will see engineers and support staff mobilised directly from the Heliport at Teesside International during both the construction and operational phases of the project.

The windfarm project is currently under construction in the North Sea, more than 100 miles off the coast of Redcar.

When fully developed, the Dogger Bank Wind Farm is set to provide the UK with 4.8GW of clean, renewable power lasting for decades. This equates to around 10 per cent of the UK’s total electricity requirements, and will be transported via underground.

Mayor Houchen said: “I have always said that our airport in public ownership won’t just be about flights to Costa del Sol. We also need to attract commercial investors to get our airport back into profit.

“Today’s event allowed me to set out the case for investment at Teesside International to an even wider audience - this time with the guarantee that we are now in control of our airport’s future.”

Mayor Ben Houchen was also invited to deliver a keynote speech at a major offshore wind conference in Blyth, organised by NOF Energy, Equinor and the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult.

The Mayor set out the case for investment at the soon to be publicly-owned airport to supply chain representatives and industry chiefs.

The event at the Port of Blyth, Northumberland was focused on next generation innovation in operations and maintenance for the offshore wind sector.

Last week, the Tees Valley Mayor’s plan to bring the region’s airport back into public ownership was approved as part of a 10-year Investment Plan to transform the region.

The purchase from Peel Holdings is set to be finalised by March 2019.