[A]tkins is celebrating two years since its new office at Rutherford House on the Westlakes Science and Technology Park opened and 30 years after Atkins established a presence in Cumbria. Home to Atkins’ nuclear business in the north of England since 1987, Whitehaven is now a hub for Atkins’ infrastructure and energy businesses in West Cumbria and the wider region, a key part of Atkins’ global business.
Dave Wilson, market lead for decommissioning North in Atkins’ Energy business, said: “These three decades in Cumbria have been full of great projects and great people. When we look at how our presence here has evolved from a small nuclear team of 11 to a multidisciplinary, multi sector team of over 90 people working on projects all around the world, I feel immensely proud. This is an exciting time for Cumbria with so many big energy and infrastructure projects on the horizon and with our Whitehaven office as a centre of excellence for digital engineering that’s revolutionising so many sectors, we’re looking forward to what the next 30 years brings,
Darren Grears, a senior engineer who started work in the Whitehaven office as an apprentice over 15 years ago and now spearheads Atkins’ Energy digital engineering team, added: “In the last six years nearly half of all apprentices recruited in Atkins’ Energy division have been employed in the Whitehaven office, with similar numbers of graduates working at Rutherford House, many of whom have gone on to work on exciting engineering projects all around the world. I am passionate about the role companies like Atkins can play in building and maintaining the critical mass of skills needed to grow industry and business, through programmes such as our apprentice scheme and STEM activities in schools.”
In the community, Atkins is helping to grow the local supply chain and, through community initiatives such as Brightstars and World of Work, continues to inspire and educate the next generation.
The local team has worked on several major projects in the region over the past three decades: from reconfiguring BAE’s shipyards in the mid-1990s, to acting as structural engineers at The Rum Story attraction in Whitehaven, to our many years of working at Sellafield on the Legacy Ponds and Silos (LP&S) facilities and as part of the ACKtiv joint venture, and more recently, working on flood alleviation schemes in Cockermouth and Ulverston.
Atkins remain a major supplier to Sellafield Ltd and is now working on the Decommissioning Delivery Partnership (DDP) with a range of partners including AREVA, Doosan Babcock, Jacobs, Westinghouse Hertel, North West Projects and Westlakes Engineering. The team also continues to support SME’s and has built strong relationships with local organisations such as Forth Engineering, Cumbria Operations and Maintenance Services (COMS) and Barrnon.
