Subsea Specialist Moves to Bigger Riverside Base

20 April 2010

A global subsea construction specialist is expanding by creating a base on the River Tees to house its fleet of machines for the oil and gas industry.

Modular Underwater Systems (Modus) is taking part of the North Sea Supply Base (NSSB) on Middlesbrough’s Riverside Park to base its marine operations centre, to help support the company’s strategy of growing the business.

The move paves the way for Darlington-based Modus, which works on oil and gas projects around the world, to invest in new technology to advance its operation further, and for it to create new jobs to add to its workforce.

The NSSB forms part of Middlesbrough-based logistics company AV Dawson’s site, and the business has invested £100,000 to upgrade the facilities to accommodate its new tenant, which has signed a ten-year lease.

David Brown, operations director at Modus, said: “The decision to relocate Modus’ marine operations centre to the NSSB is an integral part of the company’s growth strategy, both in terms of asset investment and the recruitment of highly-qualified technicians involved in the maintenance and operation of our fleet of specialist marine trenching and subsea construction support equipment.”

Modus will use the facilities for maintenance and storage of remotely-operated vehicles and trenching systems between projects.

Gary Dawson, managing director of AV Dawson, said “The NSSB was created for companies like Modus which deal in subsea manufacturing and need facilities close to water to make the process as efficient as possible.

“We were very keen to accommodate Modus which is why we invested £100,000 in renovating the site for them.”

The NSSB is capable of housing some of the largest fabrication projects for oil exploration and extraction. The hangar-like manufacturing zones are 160ft tall – the height of 13 double-decker buses – and 330ft wide, making them capable of housing two Boeing 767s side-by-side.

Jake Tompkins, managing director at Modus, said: “The location and facilities offered at the NSSB will support both the existing and planned expansion of Modus’ fleet of leading edge, specialist subsea construction technology.

“The North of England has a significant role to play in the subsea industries and the NSSB provides an ideal hub for the global operations of the Modus fleet.”