Engineering chief: ‘Collaborative working will define the next generation of leadership within industrial supply chains’

A key figure behind a major strategic partnership emerging in the Humber’s industrial cluster has told how early exposure to offshore wind’s deployment helped forge the delivery vision.

 

Barry Taylor worked for Blackrow Group for 12 years before joining On Line Group, the two companies now heading up a collaboration with real potential to deliver for the area and the UK on a significant scale. Together they are eyeing a £15 billion pipeline of work in the decarbonisation sphere heading to the region - taking in energy, process operations and fuel transport. 

 

And having just hosted a special day focusing on what is possible, at which two further partners were welcomed to the fold - Technica and F.E.S. (EX) Ltd - he gave an in-depth insight into the reasoning behind the novel move.

 

He said: “I believe collaborative working will define the next generation of leadership within industrial supply chains. Collaboration is a word which is commonly used – so much so that I don’t think I have attended a seminar, conference or networking event in the past 18 months that hasn’t said ‘to meet the demand, we will have to collaborate’. But who is doing it? I thought ‘why not us?’.

 

“The Humber Region needs 22,000 skilled construction workers to deliver the UK Net Zero ambition but how will it, especially when Hinkley Point, HS2 and Teesside are all being developed at the same time? I also hear operators rightly asking if anyone has considered the ongoing maintenance and operational work we generate.”

 

To answer the question he wound the clock back to his time as commercial director with his former employer. “I remembered back more than 15 years ago, when we had the emergence of the offshore wind industry. It was truly different, new, and we had no idea what skills we needed or how many people it would involve! We had no idea of the design, fabrication, assembly, installation and maintenance needs, as no-one had ever done it – except the Danish!

 

“So I travelled Europe, visiting Denmark, Norway, Germany to meet people in the hope I could gain an overview of the engineering requirements which we hoped would underpin a strategy upon which our business could thrive.

“I even travelled to a conference in Norway to meet two guys who lived in Grimsby and who were pioneering our regional response.”

 

Those two men were Winston Phillips, former managing director of Cosalt Plc, and the recently passed Kurt Christensen, who had seen the potential of wind and diversified his fishing vessel agency while championing the opportunity for the area.  They had formed a nascent Grimsby Renewables Partnership, the board of which Mr Taylor went on to join to help local businesses flourish in the new industry.

 

“They laughed when I told them I had gone all that way just to meet them, and asked why I hadn’t just knocked on their office doors - but - they helped me, they introduced me to people, they shared their wisdom and they gave me their time, for free.

“Thanks to those guys, I was invited to spend a month in the offices of Dong Energy, the forefather of offshore wind – that became Orsted.

 

“They sat me with their teams and taught me their processes, their approach to building and maintaining wind farms, but possibly most importantly, their culture and how they worked to achieve their goals. This was for free, with no obligation, just so that I could build a service that would help them in the future!

 

“Only now do I truly understand what really happened during that period – we collaborated – we aligned our objectives to understand the value chain and we did it together – we made it happen.”

 

Mr Taylor said the Humber is now “the shining light in global offshore wind,” home to the largest wind farms in the world and the largest operations and maintenance cluster to support them and several others. 

 

“If our challenge is how we protect our ongoing operations while the Net Zero and decarbonisation projects mobilise, then I say it’s easy, let’s work together, understand each other’s issues and find a solution, now.

 

“As engineers, we use our knowledge and creativity to solve complex problems. Through collaboration, we can create synergies which will reduce the cost of acquisition, streamline communication and cross-disciplinary co-ordination; find solutions through shared expertise, deliver optimised designs which reduce time on site, reduce risk and ultimately, drive continuous improvement in a rapidly evolving industry.

 

“We, at OLG live and breathe this mindset. And as a leadership team we are united, and within our respective businesses, we have some fantastic people who will thrive as we progress to the next stages our relationship.”

 

Blackrow directors Gary Pexman and Luke O’Brien joined Mr Taylor at OLG for the event, with Frank Lee, chief executive of The Institute for Collaborative Working and Andy Brown, managing director of Caladail Skills presenting. John Davison, group managing director of Technica, and James Ward, managing director of F.E.S. (EX) Ltd were also in attendance.

 

Looking ahead, Mr Taylor said: “We are now working hard to create an environment for our teams to share capabilities, support each other throughout the project lifecycle and deliver valuable solutions for our aligned clients.

 

“I believe that true collaboration requires three key components; an intrinsic knowledge of the value chain and an organisation’s place within it; a partner or client who has aligned objectives and a willingness to learn and develop together.

 

“If we have that, we can break down barriers and truly deliver value.”