Labtech Business Growth Sparks Move to RentAir Base

Labtech, a Centurion company that specialises in the provision of offshore modular enclosures for people and equipment, has moved its facilities to join RentAir’s base in Dyce, Aberdeen to successfully support its ever-growing operations.

The move was carried out on 22nd November, 2021 and saw all employees from Labtech – both office and yard staff – move to the RentAir facility, which also houses Centurion’s headquarters. The brands will be working alongside each other in the day-to-day running of the businesses, and will share the expansive workshop and yard facilities for preparing equipment and loading out to global customers.

By operating out of the same base, Labtech will be able to work more closely with RentAir and other Centurion brands, better serving customers by being able to offer a wider range of technical packaged services from across both businesses. Sharing facilities will also reduce costs and limit the carbon footprint and overall environmental impact between the two businesses.

For more information on Labtech, please visit: https://labtechmodular.com/

LABTECH is taking part in the UK Government Kickstart Scheme

We are delighted to announce that LABTECH is taking part in the UK Government Kickstart Scheme, an initiative designed to give young people in the UK valuable work experience and life skills to assist them in their future endeavours.

After interviewing several young and enthusiastic candidates we have offered and subsequently started two new employees, Micha Swinton, who takes up the role as Trainee Office Administrator, and Kieran Gunn, who joins us as Trainee Yard Assistant.

Andy Watson, Business Development Manager at LABTECH said: “it’s an extremely exciting opportunity for Micha and Kieran to join the Specialist Services Group family, at a time that we have just expanded at LABTECH with the recent acquisition of HB Rentals assets, and we look forward to growth across the company. I know that the senior management team is extremely proud to be taking part in this scheme, assisting the next generation in gaining valuable experience.”

Labtech operates from new larger premises in Dyce with an increased Modular Hire fleet

Following an increasing demand for our modular buildings rental and support services, as well as Specialist Services Group’s acquisition of HB Rentals assets outside the US, Labtech Services Limited have relocated their facilities to larger premises in Aberdeen to accommodate an increased Modular Hire fleet.

“This change marks another important milestone at Labtech and Specialist Services Group. Despite this year’s challenging market conditions related to the Coronavirus crisis, we have witnessed an increased demand for modular building rentals, service, maintenance and refurbishment works. During the past four years, Labtech has been focused on providing modular offshore accommodation and office units for rental and service works, and in response to increased rental fleet and demands in Europe have now relocated to a larger facility in Aberdeen,” said Ian Rogers, Chief Executive Officer at Specialist Services Group.

The new facility is located in Unit 10 Wellheads Terrace, Wellheads Industrial Estate, Dyce, and includes office space for the Labtech team, a modern workshop for refurbishment, recertification and modification works, and an extensive hard standing yard for our Modular Hire fleet storage.

“We already have the highest specification and newest Office Module fleet available anywhere in Europe and have previously expanded our fleet in Aberdeen, including our fully ABS compliant FLEX 33 Accommodation Modules in 2018. Our Modular Hire fleet now includes the recently acquired HB Rentals high quality assets, including a sizable quantity of 8 man offshore ABS certified accommodation modules. These units significantly increase our capacity to offer larger temporary living quarter solutions in Europe, Middle East and Asia,” said Chris Ridley, Group Sales and Marketing Director at Specialist Services Group.

The facility relocation will bring further benefits to Labtech and Specialist Services Group by providing a wider range of sought after Modular Hire units at competitive rates for immediate delivery, in addition to our responsive call out service and maintenance works, and refurbishment works.

Visit our Contact page for Labtech new location and contact details.

Specialist Services Group Celebrating 38 Years

This year, Specialist Services Group is celebrating 38 years of operations as a global supplier of oilfield equipment, modular buildings and packaging solutions for people and equipment in the oil and gas, utility, petrochemical, power, renewables, and defence industries.

Throughout almost four decades, we have developed and refined an international capability in design, engineering, manufacture, installation, and support across our broad range of products and services. At the same time, we have also expanded geographically, with the aim of supporting our clients worldwide through our facilities in the Middle East, Asia, Europe, and North America.

A Brief Overview of Our Milestones

Founded in 1982 as ASCO Specialist Services, in 1985, Specialist Services became a sole proprietorship company owned by Philip Bond. During the first decade of its operations, the company provided quality products and solutions for some of the key players in the Oil & Gas industry, such as TOTAL ABK, Bundoq, Saudi Aramco, and Larsen and Toubro, among others.

Our Facilities

During the first 20 years, our facilities expanded first in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, followed by 15 years of global expansion first into South East Asia and Australia markets with Specialist Services Holdings Pte Ltd established in Singapore in 2010, and in Europe through the acquisition of Labtech Services Limited in Aberdeen, UK, in 2011. This was followed by the setup of a new company in India, Specialist Engineering Services Pvt. Ltd., and two Joint Venture Companies with RedGuard from the USA, including RedGuard Specialist Services based in UAE (2016) and Specialist Services RedGuard based in the USA (2017).

Our Product Range

Known in the industry as a provider of reliable and internationally compliant products, we started with Buildings, fire rated products and EPC projects. Over the last two decades, we then expanded our solutions range by adding Modular Hire, Drilling, Testing, Production and Process Packages (DTPP), as well as turn-key Facilities Management Solutions.

Throughout the years, we have been continuously innovating our products and services, to provide the best solutions for our clients. Within our DTPP solutions, we lead the market designing and delivering onshore and offshore modular well test packages, we have produced the world’s first scalable and flexible modular early production facilities, and also developed and delivered a stand-alone process heater with Sil 2 burner management system for Zone II hazardous area installation. Within our Buildings product range, we provide fully modular living quarters and stressed skin living quarters, and recently we also introduced and delivered modular shooting ranges, modular blast-rated multi-level plant control buildings, and stand-alone self-sufficient blast-rated and gas over-pressured refuge buildings. Within our Modular Hire division, we have also developed the world’s largest ABS compliant offshore accommodation fleet.

Our quality assurance processes and certification verify that our products and services meet the highest quality standards. Our latest certification includes Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance to ISO 9001:2015, ISO 14001:2015 and ISO 450001:2018.

Our Largest Projects

Throughout the years, within our Buildings division, we have worked on various large projects, such as 58 Man Living Quarters for ConocoPhillips, Bongkot Phase 4A Living Quarters Platform for PTTEP in Thailand, a 50 man Living Quarters Extension for Chevron in Thailand, Local Equipment Room and Local Control Room Buildings for Zakum Development Company (ZADCO) in UAE, a Control Building for Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) in Kuwait, Substation Modules for National Petroleum Construction Company (NPCC) and ADMA-OPCO in UAE, and the latest large project—70 Man 4-Level Living Quarter for Mubadala Petroleum in Malaysia, among others.

Some of Our Latest Achievements

In 2013, DNV GL awarded us the renewal of the DNV Manufacturing Survey Arrangement (or MSA), confirming once again Specialist Services’ high quality and reliable products manufacture, while in 2014, the Public Health and Safety Department of Dubai Municipality awarded Specialist Services as a role model organisation in the manufacturing sector for the management of occupational health and safety during the year 2012-2013. The same year, we launched the G4 Global, the first globally compliant office module, and received the Type Approval (TA) Certificate from ABS for 20ft A60 4 Men Portable Accommodation Modules. A year later, we launched FLEX 33 Accommodation Modules, compliant with the stringent ABS code.

In 2016, Zakher Marine International awarded us a rental contract for a 77-module, 150 man TLQ complex to accommodate ZADCO personnel offshore Abu Dhabi—one of the largest TLQ projects in the world. The same year, we also celebrated 6 million man-hours without Lost Time Injuries. Since 2017, we have been also achieving very high Customer Loyalty Score results, above 70%, and since 2019 over 80%, which reflect a high level of customer satisfaction with our solutions. This year, Abdul K. Molla, Welder at Specialist Services, won the first prize at SteelFab 2020 in UAE, proving the high level of professionalism of our employees.

This is just a short snapshot of some of our achievements, proving our quality and professionalism in all aspects of our business. While we are proud of what we have accomplished over almost four decades, we still have ambitious plans for the future.

New Regional Office in the Netherlands

Further to the continuous development and expansion of Specialist Services Group in Europe, we are adding sales and technical support staff for the region. The team will be based in our new offices in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, complementing our existing yard and rental fleet in Holland.

“This new regional office marks another important milestone at Specialist Services Group. As we further penetrate the European and North Sea market, we are able to better support our Clients from two facilities with offices, yards and rental fleet in this region—Labtech in Aberdeen (UK) and now also from Rotterdam,” said Ian Rogers, Chief Executive Officer at Specialist Services Group.

The new office is located in Albert Plesmanweg, Waalhaven area, and includes office space for our regional Sales and Technical Support Team.

“Supported by our Engineering and Manufacturing capabilities in Dubai and New Delhi, this new facility brings significant benefits to the Group by providing BRMs and Modular Hire solutions at competitive rates for immediate delivery, as well as other products from our Buildings, Drilling, Testing, Production and Process Equipment ranges. These are also complemented by refurbishment works, as well as a responsive call out service and maintenance works,” said Chris Ridley, Group Sales and Marketing Director at Specialist Services Group.

Visit our Contact page for the new office location and contact details.

Labtech offers enhanced refurbishment services from new premises in Dyce

In response to improving market conditions in the Oil & Gas Industry and following an increasing demand for Modular Buildings rental and support services, Labtech Services Limited has relocated its facilities in Aberdeen, with enhanced refurbishment services.

“This change marks another important milestone at Labtech and Specialist Services Group. The currently improving market conditions in the industry are reflected in an increased demand for modular building rentals, service, maintenance and refurbishment works, as well as new builds. During the past two years, Labtech has been focused mainly on providing Modular Hire units for rental and service works, and in response to increased demands has now relocated to a larger facility in Aberdeen, from where we can offer enhanced refurbishment services to our clients,” said Ian Rogers, Chief Executive Officer at Specialist Services Group.

The new facility is located in The Bond Building on Howemoss Drive, Kirkhill Industrial Estate, Dyce, and includes office space for the Labtech team, a workshop and a yard for our Modular Hire fleet storage, refurbishment, recertification and modification works.

  

“We already have the highest specification and newest Office Module fleet available anywhere in Europe and to support the increased demand we are experiencing for our Modular Hire units, we are expanding our fleet in Aberdeen, including our fully ABS compliant FLEX 33 Accommodation Modules. Our Modular Hire fleet, along with our service capabilities covering HVAC, F-GAS, ATEX and IECEx recertification, will now also be complemented by refurbishment works, which represents an exciting next step in Labtech’s development. In addition, Labtech will continue to deliver new build solutions to our client base manufactured at our Group facility in Dubai, ensuring internationally compliant products at commercially competitive costs,” said Chris Ridley, Group Sales and Marketing Director at Specialist Services Group.

The facility relocation will bring significant benefits to Labtech and Specialist Services Group by providing sought after Modular Hire units at competitive rates for immediate delivery, responsive call out service and maintenance works, and also refurbishment works.

Visit our Contact page for Labtech new location and contact details.

Refurbishment of Accommodation Units

Labtech Services Limited successfully completed a refurbishment project with a high standard finishing that significantly increased the life-span of existing accommodation areas

In January 2015, an Aberdeen-based Drilling Company awarded Labtech Services Limited, a Specialist Services Group Company, a contract for upgrade and refurbishment of office spaces, mud laboratories and recreation areas on-board their drilling rig during the quayside visit to Invergordon.

Project: Refurbishment of Accommodation Areas
Client: Aberdeen-based Drilling Company
Location: Drilling rig offshore Shetland – North Sea
Project Completion: 17th May 2015

Project requirements

In January 2015, at the request of the client’s Rig Manager, Labtech was given the opportunity to supply two outfitters to carry out a destruct programme on-board the drilling rig, during the rig tow from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria to Invergordon, Rosshire. During the destruct programme, the client requested a full survey and report of the current status within the accommodation. Labtech submitted a full report with budgets and recommendations for upgrades of office spaces, mud laboratories and recreation areas.

The project timeline was set at 6 weeks and one of the key elements of the project was that the client had to have confidence in Labtech to complete the execution of the project prior to the rig sail-out.

Solution

Labtech executed surveys for each area and provided regular estimates of labour and materials quotations, designs, discussed changes, procured materials and delivered the complete scope on site. Due to the limited timescale of this project, the Labtech team ensured that the procurement of materials, work packs and labour resource was in place for the arrival of the rig at Quayside.

Following the extension of the project timeline to a total of 18 weeks, Labtech scope of work grew considerably with additional areas identified and requiring refurbishment. In addition to the original scope, and at the request of the client, following the high standard of finish to the original areas, Labtech were given the opportunity of increasing the scope of work with a further 5 areas for refurbishment during the extended period at Quayside.

Bespoke furniture such as workstations has been manufactured for the required upgrades and refurbishment, together with lighting, ceiling, wallcoverings and flooring, all of which had to be on site within the required timeframe and with high quality finishing.

Surveys and quotations have been completed and submitted to the client almost on a daily basis in order to progress with additional requirements. Labtech management travelled each week to site in order to liaise with client about all requirements and work progress.

Accommodation units – before:                                                 Accommodation units – after:

Mud Laboratory – before:                                                           Mud Laboratory – after:

Mud Logging Laboratory – before:                                             Mud Logging Laboratory – after:

Cinema / Smokers Room – before:                                             Cinema / Smokers Room – after:

Conclusion

During the time at Quayside, the 7 man offshore fit-out team worked diligently ensuring that the scope was carried out as per client’s specification to a high standard, in a safe manner resulting in over 5800 man-hours without incidents / accidents.

The high quality refurbishment work provided the client with more comfortable living and working environments as well as a significantly increased life-span of their current accommodation areas.

All areas identified by the client, that were subsequently quoted and accepted, have been completed to a very high standard prior to the rig departing Invergordon, throughout the project assistance from the client’s personnel on-board and management staff during the upgrades has been excellent.

Bespoke Permit Office and Tea Shack

Specialist Services Group designed and delivered a bespoke rental solution for a Permit Office and a Tea Shack to be used on an accommodation vessel in the North Sea

In July 2014, Specialist Services was awarded a rental contract to deliver a Permit Office and a Tea Shack to support their client’s operation on an accommodation vessel in the North Sea for a period of 6 months.

Project: Permit Office and Tea Shack
Location: Accommodation vessel in the North Sea
Project Delivery: August 2014
Rental Period: 180 days

Project requirements

Specialist Services received a rental order from a client through Labtech Services Limited, a Specialist Services Company based in Aberdeen. The requirement included four 20ft office units to be converted into two bespoke units: a permit office and a tea shack.

Solution

The project was extremely complex in terms of deliverables for this multi-room, joined and pressurised hazardous area certified module.

In line with the client’s requirements and specifications, Specialist Services designed and modified four of their standard 20ft A60 office modules, by combining two 20ft modules as double-wide modular units, constructed to provide the permit office and tea shack. The modifications on the four modules were executed whilst maintaining all of the modules existing ATEX, DNV, A60 and CSC certification.

Conclusion

This was the first order Specialist Services received from the client and they had committed to an extremely short lead time of only 2 weeks. Due to the close coordination between Labtech and Specialist Services projects, engineering and production across all disciplines, the project was seamless in the execution phase and everything was successfully completed on time.