Gateshead firm enhances its reputation with a trip to the Falklands

Oct 29 2009 by Chris Knox, The Journal

ASBESTOS management company Lucion Environmental believes it will see its sales grow from £2m to £2.5m by next year after flying its staff 8,000 miles to clean a vessel off the coast of the Falkland Islands.

Gateshead-based Lucion Environmental recently made an urgent trip to the Falkland Islands after a call from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to inspect Antarctic patrol ship HMS Endurance for potentially harmful asbestos.

The firm’s military and defence expert, Phil Rozier, was flown the 8,000 miles to the islands courtesy of the MoD and on arrival checked out the vessel for chemical contamination before returning to the UK to put together a team to go back and carry out the necessary remediation work.

The Class 1 Icebreaker was originally built in Norway in 1990 as MV Polar Circle and was chartered by the Royal Navy in 1991 before being commissioned as HMS Polar Circle.

After being renamed HMS Endurance it patrolled and surveyed the Antarctic and South Atlantic, forming close links with links with the Foreign Office, United Kingdom Hydrographic Office and the British Antarctic Survey.

With a base port in Portsmouth, the vessel deploys annually to the Antarctic for seven months of the year.

Mr Rozier said: “It was our quick response time that impressed the Royal Navy – as soon as we got the call we were ready to go. We have worked for the MoD for a few years and are becoming a UK leader in the management of asbestos in military ships.”