Our involvement in the heavy lift and fabrication subsectors of renewable energy has gone from strength to strength in recent years. Rapid developments in both the on- and off-shore sectors have seen increased opportunities across a range of professions, with 9.8 million people employed by the renewable energy sector globally in 2016. As we continue to grow our presence in both the heavy lift and fabrication subsectors, we expect to see a whole new world of opportunities open up. Here’s what you need to know:
Skills in demand
Our fabrication clients are predominantly international steel contractors that specialise in large-scale and highly complex steel structures. They share industry space with heavy lifting organisations, along with wind, renewable energy, oil and gas and infrastructure. Our long-standing relationships with fabrication and heavy lift clients see us place professionals in some of the most significant and exciting projects all over the world, with agreements in place across Europe and expanding into Brazil, Greece, Peru and beyond. As the market grows, we’re looking to move into countries such as Australia, Russia, the USA and Taiwan, meaning we can provide opportunities in a greater variety of destinations – and projects – than ever.
Clients come to us to source a variety of roles, including QA managers and QC inspectors, fabrication managers and supervisors, structural engineers, substation fabrication inspectors, inspection managers, project managers and engineers, NDT inspectors, mechanical supervisors, quantity surveyors and HSC engineers. While each project and client has a different requirement, we see a high demand for QA management and QC inspectors in particular, along with those who have standards including ISO9001 / OHSAS 18001 / ISO 14001.
Why QCS Staffing?
At QCS Staffing, while we treat our heavy lift and fabrication sub-sectors very much as separate entities, there are many benefits on offer from a close synergy between the two. By having strong relationships with major industry players in both sectors, we have a broader range of opportunities we can present to professionals. Having two sub-sectors based on the same site in the same location is a significant advantage: yards where parts are fabricated and go through quality control processes are shared with the cranes that will go on to move those heavy parts onto vessels.
We have multiple long-standing framework agreements, which in turn gives our professionals a range of opportunities, access to projects and their timelines, and better longevity of work. We’re always looking ahead, and our long-standing industry relationships help us to identify future needs when projects start and secure future work.
We’re known for our candidate care and the ongoing support we provide, whether for short-term projects close to home or longer contracts that require mobilisation assistance. Our international mobilisation and compliance teams ensure professionals can hit the ground running as soon as they arrive in a new destination, taking care of many of the administrative tasks associated with taking on an international project, and this will become increasingly important as we branch out into new locations.
Industry trends
In recent years, we’ve noticed international clients become more open to bringing expats on board for projects. In the past, local labour was considered the cost-effective option, but industry progression has shown that many projects require European expertise and specialist skillsets to deliver the best results.
While last year saw onshore wind take up the bulk of our heavy lift and fabrication opportunities, we expect to see offshore projects pick up this year. Fabrication in particular is set to expand beyond Europe, where available space has been maximised, to destinations such as Vietnam and Taiwan. We’re seeing longer duration projects emerge in fabrication as well, providing more stability.
Join us
As the global market continues to open up, and contracts become even more appealing in terms of duration and compensation, we expect to see even more opportunities in both fabrication and heavy lift. If you’re interested in finding out more about this part of the business, click here to contact us, or take a look at our latest vacancies.
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