Jarrow-based Wescott Industrial Services have the lucrative Middle East market firmly in their sights having purchased a 50% share in Total Access Solutions (TAS), one of the leading Dubai-based Rope Access Building Maintenance and Asset Integrity Management contractors which is now to be renamed as Wescott Technical Services LLC.
The purchase will enable Wescott to immediately access the rapidly expanding MENA (Middle East and North Africa) market for Facility Management, Fabric Maintenance, Oil & Gas, Petrochemical and Marine sectors.
Wescott’s Business Development Director, Mick Flaherty, commented, “This acquisition is a perfect match for ourselves as it enables us to trade immediately out of the Middle East without the delays and set-up costs most businesses experience – normally a painful six months process at least.”
“TAS has a history of nine years in the UAE and has almost 100 fully trained IRATA Rope Access Technicians ready and available to support contracts. Simultaneously, we are finalising a Joint venture with one of India’s largest NDT companies to add more services to our offering. More importantly, this will add a geographical footprint opportunity throughout the MENA and Far East regions that will increase our exposure as experts in our industry. Our contribution is a structured business development campaign, operational excellence in project management and quality accreditations which allows us to enter all industry markets and gives us more scope for Fabric Maintenance and Asset Integrity Management contracts, thereby adding value from all angles. The new company will now be able enter markets with an aggressive growth strategy far beyond its expectations.”
TAS have an enviable track record in the region with several high profile contracts including a five year contract recognised as the single largest rope access-cleaning contract in the UAE requiring 70 men working six nights 52 weeks of the year. Similarly the Ferrari World project required 160 men during the construction clean which included the entire outside roof (at the time this was the largest roof of any single building in the world), façade including the six iconic triforms of the roof structure. TAS also carried out external construction clean of the IMG Theme Park, the largest indoor Theme Park in the world,
The investment will also bring direct benefits to the Jarrow Head Office, as Commercial Director, Matt Doyle, explained, “In addition to providing opportunities for experienced technical and operational persons from the UK to work in Dubai and other countries, the Tyneside HQ will become a more diverse hub providing technical, QHSE, operations, finance and commercial support to the new business.”
“The UK will still form the backbone of our business, particularly in the booming Offshore Wind Farm sector where we’re continuing to grow with several prestigious European contracts. We are expanding and growing from just a coatings company, although this will always be the core element to our operations, to an integrated Asset Integrity Management company able to bring a variety of skills, technology and experience to projects ranging from offshore structures to facilities management and transport infrastructure.
From the UAE, Wescott will now be targeting asset integrity management sectors in the MENA countries of UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman, India, Sri Lanka, Nigeria and Uganda but particularly Dubai itself as the country gears up for Expo 2020.
Established in 2010, Wescott Industrial Services work primarily in the Offshore, Transport Infrastructure and Industrial Facilities sectors, enjoying a significant annual turnover and employing some 50 full time managerial, supervisory and multi discipline operatives supported by temporary onsite crews employed for specific projects to suit requirements. As of 31 December 2017 the company has enjoyed working over 850,000 hours LTI free. The company has their own training subsidiary at Jarrow providing rope access and safety training. For further information please visit www.wescottis.com or email Matthew Doyle, Commercial Director – matthew.doyle@wescottis.com.