Hopes for jobs and expansion as firm marks first birthday

Project Design Group (PDG) is looking ahead to a busy year that will see its four-strong team expand to meet growing demand for its services.

The highly experienced engineering, design and project management team is led by Andy Rhodes who returned to his home town after 18 years working around the world.

Following a successful first year based at UK Steel Enterprise’s Innovation Centre on the Queens Meadow Business Park, plans are now in hand to expand the team, grow the company’s customer base and move into different sectors.

Project Design Group works with companies in the engineering, nuclear, oil and gas, utilities, renewable, petrochemical, onshore and offshore sectors.

Its workforce has been involved with large projects with Shell, BP, Exxon Mobil and Conoco Philips.

It provides project management and engineering services in the UK and overseas and is particularly experienced in the use of 3D Intelligent Digital Data Modelling & 3D laser scanning for repair order projects.

Andy said: “We are pleased with the progress we’ve made in our first year although it has been a lot of hard work.

“UK Steel Enterprise backed us with a £5,000 investment from its Regeneration Fund as well and that helped us through the early months.

“There hasn’t been much spare time to devote to marketing, but with the first year under our belt we are now looking to take on additional engineers and designers as we continue expanding, especially into the onshore petrochemical sector which is on our doorstep.

“Currently a lot of our work comes from the North East but we work across the UK and on global projects. We know that the potential to expand is there and our aim is to become an industry leader.

“Our use of the latest engineering and design software means that we can laser-scan a company’s existing assets in 3D, bring this data back to the office then we engineer, design, execute and deliver a highly cost-effective project.

“PDG believes that the oil and gas industry is in great need of cost effective solutions right now due to the lower for longer oil price. Using innovative software and the fact that we also deliver the entire project from design to completion is giving us the edge in a competitive market.

“The Innovation Centre is a brilliant business home for us. As Hartlepool people we all really appreciate having this quality of office space and facilities right on our doorstep. It’s an ideal location and we enjoy being part of the business and wider community in our home town,” he added.

The team of three directors and a lead designer already draws on the services of a bank of additional designers when needed but new jobs will be created this year.

Paula Addison, of UK Steel Enterprise, said “We were very happy to welcome Project Design Group here in 2016 and are pleased that they are doing so well. We know that the first year for any business is very hard work with a lot of things to think about. Our aim here is to take all the worries about premises and services off the shoulders of all our tenants so they can concentrate their time on establishing and growing their business.”