Suffolk: Businesses get share of £15m wind farm contracts
- Credit: IAN BURT
BUSINESSES in Suffolk are to benefit from a £15million funding pot from the developers of a huge new offshore wind farm.
Vattenfall and ScottishPower Renewables are partners behind the East Anglia Offshore Wind Zone, to be built off the north Suffolk and south Norfolk coast from 2016.
In November last year the partners revealed that they had awarded contracts in the region to the value of £6.65m. This latest announcement confirms an additional investment of more than £8m.
Contract awards vary from modest accommodation and catering contracts to multi-million pound marine services, research and consulting contracts.
Ipswich-based design, marketing and communications firm 2Cs has secured a deal with the partners, while the Lowestoft-based Centre for Environment, Fisheries & Aquaculture Science (Cefas) will also benefit.
One of the big winners from the contract awards has been Eye’s Brown & May Marine Ltd, which has been working with Vattenfall and ScottishPower Renewables from before lease award in early 2010.
Andy Paine, East Anglia programme director, said: “It’s great to see businesses like Brown & May Marine benefit from contracts associated with the development of our first project and I’m really proud of our project’s investment in East Anglian businesses to date.”
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Peter Aldous, MP for Waveney, said: “This announcement is very good news and illustrates the significant opportunities that the development of offshore wind farms in the North Sea offers to businesses throughout East Anglia.”
Brown & May Marine support the joint venture through fisheries liaison work undertaken as part of the development process for East Anglia ONE.
This includes everything from delivering workshops and meetings with local fishermen to providing crucial advice and input into key application documents for the wind farm.
Stephen Appleby, director of Brown & May Marine, said: “About 20 staff work on this contract making it one of the most rewarding developments we are currently supporting.
“From our perspective, we very much look forward to continuing to support the joint venture partners and playing an important role in helping to secure consent for one of the largest offshore developments in the world.”
