Six-month-old Step Change Engineering is on course for £1.5million in turnover in 2015, and is eyeing an increase to £5million by the end of the following year.
Subscribe to our daily newsletter
Why? Free to subscribe, no paywall, daily business news digest.
The Aberdeen-based engineering and design business is seeing rapid growth after identifying a gap in the market to deliver smaller projects and repair orders for oil and gas assets with cost and schedule savings.
To date, the firm has gained £250,000 of contacts and is set to meet its turnover predictions for the year. The recent appointments of managing director, John Wilson, and consultancy director, Satnam Shoker, has taken its workforce to 20. Step Change anticipates this doubling to 40 by the end of 2015.
In order to accommodate the growth, Step Change Engineering has moved to new offices in Regent Centre at Aberdeen Harbour. These premises have room to expand to 5,000 sq ft, which align with its further growth ambitions including an increase in turnover to £5million and a 60-strong workforce in 2016, which can expand in the long-term to 130.
The firm says it has been able to achieve this growth by changing how engineering projects are delivered. This includes the efficient use of engineering applications, new technology and challenging non-essential work that does not affect the asset’s integrity or safety.
In the past six months, the company says this method has seen it achieve a minimum of 30% cost savings on client projects.
Colin Bruce, founder and technical director, said: “The North Sea oil and gas sector has entered an interesting phase of its development, one where both investment and cost savings need to be delivered hand-in-hand to ensure a sustainable future. It was clear that to achieve this an innovative, collaborative and flexible approach was required, and only a smaller more responsive business could deliver this, which led to Step Change Engineering’s creation.
“It is our aim to grow Step Change Engineering at a manageable rate and not become unwieldy in size. Growing too large would dilute the flexibility and responsiveness that we as a smaller organisation can achieve.
John Wilson, managing director, said: “The changes to the tax regime announced in the budget will put confidence back in the market, but all sectors have a role to play in helping to reduce costs. It is in everyone’s interest to increase the longevity of North Sea exploration and production and as an industry we need to look at all the potential efficiency savings that can be made. This is exactly what we as a company are doing.
“We are already making a huge difference to at least six North Sea assets. Our approach is dramatically reducing costs by changing both technical and commercial approaches to delivering the project lifecycle. This is an exciting time, where making a difference in this time of uncertainty is extremely rewarding for all parties. We are keen to make a step change in engineering across the whole of the North Sea’s assets.”
