Northern Ireland’s Decom Engineering beefs up board to push international expansion

Established in 2011, the Cookstown-based engineering company has developed technologies which provide greener, faster and safer solutions for decommissioning in the energy sector.

Ian Bailey, group chairman of the Anglo Saxon entities within the SIEMAG TECBERG Holding Company, the German-based global provider of shaft hoisting system used in mining and other sectors, has been appointed chairman of Decom Engineering. Ian specialises in markets in Southern Africa, North America and Australia – all important target markets for Decom – and prior to acquiring a shareholding in the SIEMAG Group of companies he was a managing partner of Blanes & Engineers Group in South Africa before the SIEMAG Group acquired the respective businesses in 2006.

Highly experienced strategic consultant, Keith McDermott, has also joined the Decom board as a non-executive director. As commercial director and shareholder with Aberdeen’s Ecosse Subsea Systems, Keith helped build the business over an eight year period until its eventual £50 million sale in 2018, and he was also the founder and managing partner of Brilliant Red Consulting, a sector specialist with high growth SMEs.

Decom Engineering CEO, Sean Conway, said: “We are delighted to have Ian and Keith on board, and their combined experience and success in industrial sectors closely linked to our own business, will be instrumental in helping us grow and expand into new markets in the coming years. Ian’s impressive track record of successfully integrating his own business into a larger company with a global footprint, and his understanding of international markets, will provide wise counsel as we embark of a period of strategic growth.

“As part of the management team which guided Ecosse Subsea Systems from a niche subsea services player to being acquired by Oceaneering, Keith brings many skills to the table and will be a great asset to our existing board. Both appointments add a depth of experience to Decom which will underpin our drive to consolidate our position with existing clients, while rolling out our specialist equipment and skills in global markets.”

Decom ended last year on a high note by securing international contracts valued at more than £400,000 and investing £200,000 in establishing a new base near Aberdeen to be positioned on the doorstep of North Sea focussed clients.

The company had designed and developed a range of cold cutting saws which are deployed on a variety of energy sector decommissioning projects which require pipelines and associated infrastructure to be safely removed.

Decom also specialises in Pipe Coating Removal which can transform decommissioned or surplus pipelines by stripping them of multiple coatings, which allows the steel pipes to be repurposed on other projects and returns value to the asset owner, while offering significant carbon emission savings.

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