A specialist recruitment company based in Ipswich has become the latest firm in East Anglia to receive funding under a programme designed to support innovation within the offshore renewable energy sector.
IV Offshore focuses on locating candidates for positions within the offshore and subsea industry, including oilfield service companies, drilling contractors, subsea service companies and offshore supply vessel operators.
It has now been awarded £30,000 under the Supply Chain innovation for Offshore Renewable Energy (SCORE) programme to assist the development of a database, to be called IV Live, which will allow offshore companies’ HR departments to search for contract staff who are available to deploy immediately.
The aim of the service, which will be available around the clock, seven days a week, is to speed up the process dramatically by saving HR teams having to call several recruitment agencies to find the type of applicant they are seeking.
IV Offshore is taking on a number of new members of staff to keep the IV Live system up to date and as efficient as possible.
James Kennedy, associate director of IV Energy division, said: “Securing the SCORE grant allowed us to commit more funds to this project ourselves. Delivering a high quality and efficient service to our clients is of the utmost importance to us and this new database will vastly improve the way our clients can search for particular candidates across the whole market.
“The grant application process was made very simple by the team and their guidance was very much appreciated in allowing us to secure this funding.”
Richard Salmon, project manager and business advisor for SCORE, said: “We are delighted to be assisting another recruitment agency with their plans to benefit the offshore industry. Efficient recruitment for the sector is vital due to the many positions which require people with particular skills.
“We are six months into the funding programme now and are delighted to have awarded as many grants as we have, but there is still funding available. So, if you are an SME with an idea to benefit the offshore renewable energy supply chain please get in touch.”
The SCORE programme aims to deliver £2.5million of funding from the European Regional Development Fund, with pre-trading businesses eligible to apply as well as established companies.
SCORE grants range from £2,500 up to a maximum of 30% of the project’s eligible costs, or £50,000, whichever is the lower, and are available to small and medium sized businesses - those with fewer than 250 employess and a balance sheet with net assets of less than 50million euros - in Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire.
SCORE is based at the OrbisEnergy offshore renewables innovation and incubation centre in Lowestoft and managed by enterprise agency NWES. For further details, email orbisenergy@nwes.org.uk or call 01502 563368.
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