Film-Ocean’s Growth & Future Expansion Drives Investment for a Purpose-Built Complex

Film-Ocean Ltd (Film-Ocean), a Stapem Group company, announces that construction contractors have broken ground on its new purpose-built facilities in Ellon, Aberdeenshire. The bespoke development is due for completion late summer 2022.

Aerial view of Film-Ocean breaking ground on theirnew development in Ellon, Aberdeenshire

The development represents a significant investment for Film-Ocean with the design and capacity of the project driven by future growth and development plans. The new facility will accommodate the demands and needs of the business and its employees with modern office, meeting and conference facilities. The large workshop is designed to accommodate the company’s expanding ROV fleet, with designated equipment maintenance and test areas. A key element of the new test facilities is a 5m3 Test Tank with an overhead gantry crane to accommodate wet testing of ROVs and tooling. The test tank includes innovative features such as a ‘flow generator’ to simulate subsurface currents ensuring the testing of equipment is as realistic, to the prospective working environments, as possible. Client engagement features include an observation viewing platform for visitors, inspection areas, along with technical auditing facilities with CCTV coverage of underwater testing facilities.

The new development will offer a dedicated Remote Onshore Control Room to support remote inspection and ROV operations. Film-Ocean has recently delivered a successful campaign for 'Remote Support' during an inspection work scope. The service allowed onshore based Inspection, CP and NDT specialists access and control offshore equipment for the project's duration.

Film-Ocean continues to invest significantly in expanding its ROV fleet, recent investments include a Schilling Heavy Duty Work Class ROV and a further SMD Quasar 150HP Work Class ROV.

On contractors breaking ground on the new site Scott Jenney, Film-Ocean CEO stated: “2021 has been an extremely busy year for Film-Ocean, and it’s reassuring to see we remain a trusted service provider for our expanding client base. Our growth has enabled us to introduce several new job roles within the business which is aligned with our people strategy, and it’s great to be able to welcome new highly talented work colleagues to the team adding to the positive workplace culture that we already enjoy.

Recent investments have enabled us to offer further support to our clients. For example, the addition of larger Work Class ROV assets has enabled us to expand our capabilities significantly and deliver on work scopes that we would previously not have been in a position to support.

Scott Jenney continued: “As we near capacity in our current facility in Ellon, we look forward to the development and completion of our new facilities later this year. The purpose-built facility will allow Film-Ocean to provide bespoke, modern well-designed facilities and IT infrastructure to our staff to bring our employees together to collaborate, create and be innovative. It will also ensure that our fleet of ROV assets are maintained and tested to the highest standards possible. The additional capacity also allows us to develop and implement our Remote Operations Support Service that will deliver enhanced efficiency and benefits to our clients.”