SVS’s £4m Expansion - Commemorated by the Duke of Gloucester

HRH Duke of Gloucester and Gerry Henry (MD)

From Left, Iain McFarlane, HRH Duke of Gloucester, Gerry Henry (MD)

On Tuesday 15^th November, Specialist Valve Services Ltd (SVS) opened their state-of-the-art Service Centre. The facilities were opened by HRH Duke of Gloucester, cousin to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, and a plaque was unveiled to mark the opening during the Royal visit. 

The new facility, located adjacent to the company headquarters, boasts new machining capabilities with a large increase in capacity to support valve and actuator maintenance. 

The 14,500 sq/ft workshop features 5 test bays with a dedicated Pressure Safety Valve (PSV) bay, capacity for modules and equipment up to 5m x 8m x 4.75m, 10 and 20 tonne overhead cranes, machine shop, supporting production, customer office facilities and learning centre. 

Project managed by SVS’s own Engineering Manager Iain McFarlane, initial concepts were drawn up in August 2020 with first architect contact (Fraser Halladay Munro) made in November. During 2021, the project advanced through its design, planning and tender phases which led to the award of the construction contract (Burns Construction Aberdeen) in January 2022. 

The new facility was developed with staff welfare, environment, and sustainability in mind. 1200 tonnes of Spoil was removed from the site with a recycle rate of a 95%. 120m³ water attenuation tanks and 2 large SUDS soak aways were also installed, these have been fitted with chokes to protect local environment from excess run off water flooding due to large area hard surfaces. 

The build includes maximised natural light to workshop via feature windows, a 42 Kw Solar Generation System, Controlled LED lighting systems, filtered heat recovery ventilation systems, 6 Publicly facing EV charging points (grid controlled to optimise power distribution and management) and has been designed to above Silver Aspect Level with high specification deployed for insulation and airtight properties. 

The facility test systems are designed around wastewater recovery and reuse. Major equipment has also been specified with variable speed compressors and modern inverter technologies to control power use. 

SVS now known as a “Total Valve Management” organisation, provides full test, repair and maintenance services for its client base globally across various industries including Oil & Gas, Renewables, Refining, LNG, Ship Building, Power Generation, Pulp & Paper and Mining. This latest £4m investment will not only increase operating capacity for SVS but will also create employment opportunities in the North-East of Scotland. 

Alina Forbes, SVS’s Sales and Operations Director comments: 

“SVS has been in the industry for over 20 years, providing support for major oil & gas clients worldwide. As we diversify into other industries and continue to grow this was the natural next step for us to further add value to our clients in a very demanding field.  

We have grown organically over this period at a pace that has ensured the quality of output has not been compromised. With this exciting new step we aim to further this productively.”

Published: 6th December 2022