Hundreds Attend Recruitment Fair

The first Marine Recruitment and Skills Fair attracted around 800 people to the Discovery Museum.

The day-long event sponsored by Babcock, AVEVA and NCJ Media attracted people with a broad range of skills and experience – all of whom were informed of the career opportunities available within the sector.

David Hewitt, Director of the Marine Design Centre, said: “Our members have told us that one of their biggest challenges is identifying new talent; we have acted on this with the Recruitment Fair and are delighted with the attendance from right across the North East.

“We will now monitor how many jobs are offered, which will be the real test of the success of the Fair and we will keep in contact with exhibitors to assess recruitment levels.”

Peter Douglass of the CD Group, said: “As this was the first Fair of its type we were unsure what to expect, but have been delighted with the quantity of people and have little doubt that some of them could be valuable assets for our business.

David Byrne, General Manager of Noble Denton in the North East, said: “I was talking to people from 11am to 8pm. There are a lot of talented people interested in joining the sector and it is now my role to ensure that Noble Denton is at the forefront of their minds when it comes to job offers arising from the Fair.”

Wayne Smith, of Rolls Royce NETC, said, "We had a very successful day, inviting 18 people for assessment for our current campaign to recruit 115 apprentices, and expect to interview many more who took information away in the near future."

We would like to thank all who took part in the Fair and our sponsors, without whom the event would not have been possible. 

Positive feedback has also been received from people who attended the workshops at the Recruitment & Skills Fair, including presentations from Babcock, outlining opportunities to work with the company; Business Link, who discussed the skills challenges in the region and the Train2Gain service; and SEMTA, who discussed innovation & skills across the UK marine sector and how new funding could be used to improve skills levels. We would like to extend our thanks to our workshop sponsor, SEMTA.

 

 Inaugural Annual Dinner

Our Drinks Reception & Dinner, held the night prior to the Fair, was also a tremendous success. Around 100 of the most influential people within the sector attended the event to network and meet with friends old and new. Drinks were served around the Turbinia and the Discovery Museum's Great Hall provided a spectacular setting for the dinner.

We would like to take this opportunity once again to thank our drinks reception sponsor TDR, dinner sponsor ONE North East and our excellent speakers, Ian Williams, David Bowles OBE  and Rear Admiral Terry Loughran CB.   

 

Forthcoming Events

Some dates for your diary.....

Piracy in the Gulf of Aden & Somali Waters: a contemporary view

Commander Dave Bancroft, Officer-in-Charge, Royal Navy’s UK Maritime Trade Organisation, Dubai, UAE, will give a talk at HMS Calliope (under the Tyne Bridge) at 20.00 hrs on Thursday 17th July 2008.

The talk is open to Masters and Officers in the Merchant Navy, Shipping Company Managers and Students and Educators in Maritime Studies.

Places are free but anyone wishing to attend must register by email to calliope-por@mod.uk

Drydocks World - Dubai: 20th August 2008

We are pleased to announce the visit of Drydocks World, a subsidiary of Dubai World. The company has been firmly established as a leading and expanding international player in ship repair, conversion, new building and other marine related activities. The group encompasses Drydocks World - Dubai, an amalgamation of Dubai Drydocks and Jadaf Dubai; Drydocks World – Singapore, formerly Pan United Marine; Drydocks World – Batam, a green field development in Indonesia, Platinum Yachts FZCO and Platinum Yacht Management.

The group services vessels of any shape or size from VLCC, offshore structures to water taxis and privately owned leisure craft. The shipyard has repaired over 5,000 vessels, representing a large proportion of the world’s tanker fleet.

Drydocks World’s Gary Gibson will outline the company’s exciting development and opportunities to interface in areas of Supply, Design, Education and Recruitment.

Afloat Support: Tony Graham, Director; 11th September 2008

Understanding the structure, activities and opportunities of the newly formed MoD Afloat Support Directorate.

Part of Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S), the Afloat Support Directorate was formed in April 2008 from the merger of the Military Afloat Reach & Sustainability (MARS) IPT and the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Support (RFAS) IPT.

The Afloat Support Directorate has been established to provide new opportunities for MoD, the Royal Navy and industry, centred on:

• Single point of contact
• Strategic oversight of links between procurement & support
• Increased emphasis on through-life management
• Wider skills base
• A team empowered to deliver

Tony Graham, Director of Afloat Support, pictured, will outline the structure of the Directorate, the programmes it will be running and the opportunities that will arise.

 

The meetings with Drydocks World and Afloat Support will both be lunchtime events, with agendas to be confirmed. Demand for places will be high; please contact us on 0191 255 1710 or email info@marinedesigncentre.com to reserve a place. Places cost £15 (+ VAT) for Marine Design Centre members and £50 (+ VAT) for non-members, and are limited to 2 per company. Space is limited so act quickly to reserve your place! 

 

 

PDMS Equipment & Piping Design Course 22nd-26th September

The Marine Design Centre's next training course in conjunction with AVEVA is also coming up. AVEVA software supports the world’s Marine, Oil, Gas, Power, and Process industries with comprehensive solutions for the design, construction and lifetime support of all types of facilities. This excellent course covers a number of modules including Basics and Functions (M3), Equipment Design (M4), Piping Design(M5) and parts of Clash Detection (M11), Reports (M12) and Isometric Production (M13).

Specific content and booking forms will be circulated shortly but the recommendation is that you book early. Places on the course cost £1700 (+ VAT), and funding support may be available. For further details please contact John Lockey on 0191 255 1710 or john.lockey@marinedesigncentre.com , or click here.

 

New Members

We are delighted to extend a warm welcom to 2 new members, Stile Mare and Visual Impact.

Newcastle based Stile Mare Ltd., the specialist marine design consultancy, have become the latest creative addition to the MDC. The company was established in the summer of 2007, by former automotive designer, Matteo Conti, below, whose vision has been to create a consultancy dedicated to meeting the needs of a vastly expanding market in both commercial and leisure craft.

 

The highly experienced team at Stile Mare Ltd. bring to the studio individual expertise ranging from CAD modelling, computer generated image rendering and presentation, to concept and product development. Managing Director Matteo, originally of Milan, began professional life with a spell in the Italian Navy and boasts a distinguished lineage in the marine and automotive sectors. “We’re currently working with naval architects on a number of projects ranging from large utility vessel conversions to new fast water craft projects. We are excited by the opportunity to create new alliances within the MDC.” The company’s philosophy is to provide an absolutely tailored design service to their clients, whether they are a project manager, naval architect or owner.

Their current portfolio boasts a wide variety of craft from a 30’ powered catamaran to a 153 metre mega yacht. The company’s UK based design consultants, in Newcastle upon Tyne and London, are developing new concepts and equipment, with the aim of generating and improving new solutions for variety of specialist products aimed at enhancing the marine leisure experience.

“We have a vast wealth of creativity and skill to offer owners, architects and other representatives of the industry, and look forward to our future as a Marine Design Centre member with great excitement.”

 

 

Visual Impact, also based in Newcastle, have a proven track record in the production of computer generated visualisation and animation. They have provided high quality photorealistic C.G.I. services to a wide range of clients, national and international, since 1999.

3D printing and rapid prototyping was added to the company’s list of services in the beginning of 2005 with the installation of their first Z-Corporation 3D printer. This technology has enjoyed a wide spread take-up within the product and engineering design sectors, leading the company to see The Marine Design Centre as an ideal forum through which to introduce their extensive 3D experience into the offshore, naval, commercial marine, oil and gas sectors.

David Moore, Director of Visual Impact, said, “The marine sector and many of the industries within it are already extremely comfortable with the use of 3D CAD as part of their design workflow. It is a logical step for us to offer our services to assist marine related companies within the region achieve the highest standards in visualisation, animation and rapid prototyping, ultimately helping them grow their market share.” 

  

Minister for North East Briefed on MDC

The Marine Design Centre was pleased to welcome the Rt Hon Nick Brown MP, Minister for the North East of England, to its offices last month for a meeting of the Northern Business Forum. MDC Director David Hewitt and NDI Group Managing Director Trevor Harrison both took the opportunity to brief Mr Brown on the work both organisations are doing for the region’s marine, defence and aerospace companies.

Pictured left to right are Trevor Harrison, David Bowles (NDI & MDC Chairman), Rt Hon Nick Brown and David Hewitt.

 

The War For Talent Seminar

There was also a good turnout for the ‘War for Talent’ seminar at the Marine Design Centre in early June, looking at employer branding and the need for companies to differentiate themselves in the marketplace.

The seminar was coordinated by Daniel O’Mahoney of Bradley O’Mahoney Public Relations, who is also strategic marketing consultant to the Marine Design Centre.

The seminar touched upon a number of key issues including website differentiation and branding, and significant interest was expressed by delegates in search engine optimisation – the process which ensures companies are in pole position within Google.