Brookes Bell UK heads inland with new service offering

The maritime sector has long been Brookes Bell’s ‘bread and butter’ but, importantly, the company is not a one trick pony.  Its multi-disciplinary services from around the world means that resources and expertise can be pulled from any number of offices in key locations to provide industry leading technical and scientific consultancy services.

Crucially, Brookes Bell is always looking to diversify and apply its skills and knowledge to emerging and evolving sectors, leveraging its experience from the marine sector elsewhere.

For Brookes Bell’s offices in the United Kingdom, that diversification has meant looking inland at up-and-coming industries that face similar technical risks as the maritime sector.

“We’ve been trying to get a foothold in a number of new sectors for several years now,” said Anthony York, Chief Operating Officer at Brookes Bell.  “Leading that charge has been a desire to focus on more land-based sectors, such as onshore power generation, automotive, rail and aviation, which have similar mechanical and technical challenges to the marine sector.

“I’m pleased to say that we are starting to see our efforts bear fruit.  What is important for Brookes Bell now is to find where we can utilise our expertise in the marine sector and apply it effectively into new and established land-based industries, ensuring we provide the same level of best practice that we have become renowned for,” he added.

This diversification aim for Brookes Bell’s UK offices was a leading reason behind its recent purchase of Neale Consulting Engineers.  The UK-based firm has an extensive background in onshore wind farms on top of its expertise in maritime and various transportation sectors.

“We’ve worked with Neale Consulting Engineers on a number of jobs and claims over the years so it felt natural to bring them on board and add to our multi-faceted services that we offer our clients,” said Ray Luukas, Chief Technical Officer at Brookes Bell.

“Tribology is not the most well-known aspect in the marine industry but is a key part when it comes to machinery parts such as gearboxes and bearings.  We are pleased we can expand our knowledge and expertise in this sector with our purchase of Neale Consulting and all the advantages that it can bring, especially as we look to tap into new inland markets.”

Neale Consulting Engineers background across a broad range of land-based industries gives Brookes Bell another string to its bow.

“They have experience in onshore wind, as well as power generation, automotive, rail and aviation.  We now have a foot in these areas and we are looking to grow that team and expand our services in those areas going forward,” he added.

Brookes Bell’s offices in Scotland are poised to benefit particularly from this drive towards the inland sector.  Scotland is aiming to generate 50% of its overall energy consumption from renewable sources by 2030 before completely decarbonising by 2050.  This will predominantly come from onshore wind farms, as well as those floating offshore: another area that Brookes Bell UK is aspiring to play a larger role in.

Scotland is home to the world’s first floating wind farm and it has a number of additional offshore wind projects either planned or under construction, with more than £24 billion of investment planned for the sector.

For Anthony, the prospect of either looking out at sea or more inland when it comes to renewable energy holds huge potential for Brookes Bell.  

“The Scottish market looks incredibly exciting over the coming years and we want to be a part of that journey,” Anthony said.  

“The Glasgow office has long been the flagbearer for our push into the renewables sector and now that we have expanded that team, it creates a much more attractive offering to our clients as we can be right on their doorstep and support Scotland’s drive towards renewables.”

For Brookes Bell’s team in Scotland, the radical shake-ups aren’t just taking place in renewables or inshore energy projects.  The office in Glasgow has seen a major uplift in talent and resources in recent months in order to become a multi-disciplinary service provider to clients all over the world. 

“We’ve expanded in Glasgow to offer cargo scientists, naval architects, fuel experts and master mariners.  In some ways we see Glasgow as our next Liverpool office: a major hub that can offer a wide range of services and disciplines to the Scottish market and beyond in a much more effective manner,” said Anthony.

“The team’s growing understanding and experience in land-based services will make it ideally suited to support our growing diversification efforts for sectors such as rail and automotive, ensuring Brookes Bell can support more industries and provide technical best practices where appropriate.”