Engineering giant Hertel defies economic downturn

Nov 9 2009 by Kelley Price, Evening Gazette

A NEW Tees Valley division of engineering giant Hertel has secured contracts worth more than £2m in less than a year.

Hertel Project Services is defying the downturn with a string of high-profile new clients, including Heerema, Simon Projects, Extrerran and Fine Organics.

The division has taken on more than 100 staff since the spring.

General manager Nigel Wheatley said an aggressive sales strategy across the UK and Europe was behind the success.

“We have gone out there and found the work,” he said. “We are bucking the trend, we’ve secured a number of contracts and are still growing.

“We are also looking at big projects for next year.

“The new division has been successful in a short space of time and we have one of the best facilities in the country here.

“Hertel has the financial robustness and stability to ride the storm. It has a good reputation, allows us to tap into more markets. The diversity means we can attract more business.

“We have a very structured growth plan and have the ability to take on more work.

“Maintaining and building new customer relationships is extremely important to us and we hope to continue to grow the business in the coming months.”

The company provides fabrication and erection of structural steel and pipework for the oil, gas, petrochemical and pharmaceutical sectors.

New work will include fabrication for a cooling system upgrade at Teesside-based chemical manufacturer Fine Organics, and structural steel packages for fellow engineering company Heerema’s oil, gas and wind energy client base.

The company employs 3,500 UK wide and has a turnover of £170m.