Fugro Seacore

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Investigating Planet Earth

As climate change and green innovation contin­ues to top international news agendas, the need for forward-thinking companies with the capaci­ty to execute, construct and provide data services for high-level, bespoke offshore projects grows stronger by the day.

One such company is Fugro Seacore, a United King­dom-based company committed to becoming a world-leading services provider for the collection and inter­pretation of data and the provision of advice related to the earth’s surface, the seabed and the soil and rocks beneath.

Acquiring Seacore Limited

Since its inception in 1976, Fugro N.V., Fugro Seacore’s parent-company based in the Neth­erlands, has worked to aid its clients in their search for natural resources and the produc­tion and transportation of their findings. The company’s decentralized and market-orientet­ed structure has enabled Fugro to continually meet the individual demands of its clients—whatever they might be, and wherever they might be working. Additionally, the company provides clients with all of the much-needed technical data and information they need in order to build and maintain installations, struc­tures and infrastructure, in the safest and most efficient way possible.

In May 2006 Fugro acquired Seacore U.K. Limited, of Gweek, Cornwall U.K., through a €20 million share purchase and redemption of loans thus creating the Fugro Seacore we know today. Prior to acquisition, Seacore specialized in the international oil and gas, mineral and renewable energy markets, and allowed Fugro to further its work in these respective resources areas.

Seacore was originally founded as a marine and mining company based out of Gweek in Corn­wall. They began with geotechnical drilling for off­shore platforms in the early 1980’s, and expanded into construction and wind farm engineering. Acquired by Fugro in 2006, the company has been propelled into an even higher echelon of success.

Currently, the company works in the deep­est water to carry out geological surveys for their clients. They also work the coastal region, again, doing international geological surveys for wind farms, ports and harbours. In the last year, Sea­core has worked in West Africa, Azerbaijan, the Indian Ocean and Panama. The other part of the business is construction support services, the core business of which is large diameter shaft drilling. The key aspect for that business is the building of all in-house equipment.

Since Seacore’s acquisition by Fugro, the com­pany has focused more on its renewable energy and nuclear projects. The notable successes during 2009 indicate that this is a trend set to continue.

Fugro Seacore today

On March 25 2009, Fugro announced that it had acquired a two million pound contract with Aqua­marine Power, a marine energy conversion special­ist from Scotland, U.K. The contract is to install Aquamarine’s Oyster® Wave Energy Converter at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney, (Orkney Islands) in northern Scotland.

“We are delighted to be working with Aquama­rine, which we believe will be at the forefront of the upcoming revolution in marine energy. Like all projects of this nature, there are likely to be chal­lenges to be addressed,” Managing Director, Bob Jenkins, told press. “However, we are confident that we have the necessary expertise to success­fully complete the Oyster installation this year.”

The Oyster is a 200 tonne hydroelectric wave power converter. It is designed to harness energy from surging nearshore water forces. The project marked a brand new attempt at power conversion by Aquamarine, and a successful one too. Fugro completed installation of the Oyster in August just six months after acquiring this contract.

On August 1 2009, it was announced that the Fugro family were banding together on a new project. Fugro Engineering Services Ltd (FESL) was awarded the main contractor po­sition on the London Tideway Tunnel Project (London UK) with Thames Water Utilities Ltd, and Fugro Seacore was named as another company involved on the project. With previous European experience in installing foundations for met towers and turbines, Fugro Seacore’s know-how proved to be a vital tool for the com­pany when approaching this project.

Fugro has been contracted to gather the necessary data to reduce the risk of untreated sewage overflowing from London’s aging Victorian sewage system. Once constructed, the tunnel will be capable of coping with the 32 million cubic metres of sewage which is discharged into the River Thames from London’s system today. It’s no small feat, and initial estimations cite a project cost in the region of two billion pounds.

The Oyster and London Tideway Tunnel Project exemplify two key aspects of Fugro Seacore; the company’s further focus towards renewable efforts, and ability to work in conjunction with its parent company to tackle the largest and most ambitious of projects. As Jenkins reminds us, Fugro Seacore builds its own solutions for clients too. The €20 million to €50 million growth since Seacore’s acqui­sition into Fugro identifies this international geotech­nical surveying and geoscientific service company as a true front-runner for the coming year.

www.seacore.com