Recruiter to double in size

Jan 9 2009 By Evening Gazette

WILTON-BASED recruitment firm TechConsult UK is on track to double turnover to £4m this year after signing up specialist personnel for the pioneering CompactGTL energy project in Redcar.

It has recruited seven local staff on behalf of Oxfordshire-based gas-to-liquids specialist.

TechConsult managing director Steve Guest said Teesside’s niche technical engineering skills were helping him to win new business.

He said: "The North East is a fantastic pocket of engineering capability and a key area for us with regard to future growth."

Mr Guest, who founded the UK arm of Norwegian-owned TechConsult in 2006, has seen turnover more than double to around £2m in 2008 and expects similar growth this year on the back of oil and gas exploration, infrastructure and renewable energy projects.

"Oil companies will need to be seen to be reducing their carbon emissions," he said. "We need to conserve what energy reserves we have and use them in a smarter, cleaner, greener way."

The CompactGTL scheme highlights Tees Valley’s growing reputation in renewable energy developments, which include SITA UK’s energy-from-waste plant at Haverton Hill and the £400m Tees Renewable Energy Plant (REP) at Teesport, one of the world’s largest sustainable biomass plants, led by MGT Power.

One of the new recruits for the CompactGTL project, operations manager Nathan James from Yarm, said the scheme was likely to benefit companies looking to reduce costs and their carbon footprint.

He said: "We are promoting ourselves primarily to companies operating floating platforms saying that they do not need to flare off and that by using our technology they can reduce carbon emissions and save money."