Houlder’s Marine Equipment business has announced Brian Graves has joined its project engineering team.

Brian, formerly of GE/Alstom Power Service, is a Senior Project and Design Engineer with 20 years of engineering office and site experience in the manufacturing, oil and gas and power industries. He brings supervisory and leadership expertise ranging from small to large complex design projects. His extensive experience in 2D and 3D design, utilising Laser Scanning technology and current software will provide quality deliverables to budget and within tight time frames.

Recruiting Brian demonstrates Houlder’s ambition for 2018 following success in 2017.  The employee owned company has recently delivered major pieces of foundation handling equipment , lifting and upending tools (pictured below), seafastenings and subsea equipment to major UK and European windfarm construction projects. Recent clients include Boskalis, Geosea, Van Oord, Jan De Nul, Siemens Windpower and E.ON Climate & Renewables.

James Russell, Marine Equipment Director commented “The fact our team is growing shows the appetite the offshore construction market has for innovative and ingenious engineering.  Our equipment has solved some complex challenges involving manoeuvring, lifting and installing large jacket foundations and monopiles offshore.  Brian brings a fantastic range of relevant skills and experience which will benefit our clients.”

Houlder celebrated its thirtieth anniversary last summer. Since becoming a wholly independent consultancy in 1987 the company has been at the forefront of marine innovation across the oil and gas and renewable energy sectors in particular.   Its work in offshore wind, managed from its Boldon Business Park offices in Tyneside, has been rewarded with British Engineering Excellence, Employee Ownership Association and NI Engineering Impact Awards. 

James Russell concludes “We start 2018 fulfilling a key position in the offshore wind supply chain – a place where we face the marine industries most fascinating engineering challenges on a day-to-day basis. Brian’s appointment means we have a stronger team in place to find solutions.”