Two ambitious offshore businesses have invested in bases on the east coast.

A new name in the region and a growing local company have opened offices at renewables hub OrbisEnergy in Lowestoft to maximise growth from the decades-long pipeline of wind farms ahead.

Service company OPS Wind is new to the region bringing statutory inspection expertise to the area as they chose the four-storey hub because "there’s nowhere better to be".

Offshore technology company, Fern Communications (FernCom) has continued its ongoing expansion by opening a satellite office at OrbisEnergy, to complement its larger facility on the South Lowestoft Industrial Estate.

Together with its larger facility in South Lowestoft, FernCom has also just opened a base in Aberdeen for its engineers working on Moray East, Moray West, Kincardine and Seagreen windfarms.

Now employing 12 staff in Lowestoft, including two apprentices and three in Aberdeen, FernCom has designed, installed and maintained coms and data systems for the UK's offshore windfarms, for the past seven years.

Lowestoft Journal: Jennifer Cushion, managing director of Fern Communications (FernCom), in the company’s new office at OrbisEnergy that supplements its large base on South Lowestoft Industrial Estate.Picture: OrbisEnergyJennifer Cushion, managing director of Fern Communications (FernCom), in the company’s new office at OrbisEnergy that supplements its large base on South Lowestoft Industrial Estate.Picture: OrbisEnergy (Image: OrbisEnergy)

Jennifer Cushion, managing director, said: "You never know who you will bump into in the shared spaces at OrbisEnergy, it feels like we are at the heart of everything.

"Besides networking opportunities, our OrbisEnergy office gives us a convenient space to meet and present to clients and potential customers."

OPS Wind's Martin Roberts and Ian Webster bring decades of statutory inspection experience with big industry names.

Based in Liverpool, OPS was founded in 2010. Mr Roberts said: "There is a huge amount of work coming up in the east of England. We need to be here as a hub for statutory inspection.

"Our niche factor is that we are UK-based and we have the offices in Liverpool, Llandudno and now the east of England where there is so much going on."

OrbisEnergy is owned by Suffolk County Council and managed by Vertas Group Limited.

Ian Pease, business development manager at OrbisEnergy, said: "2023 is already shaping up to be a good year for the renewable sector that we are so proud to be at the centre of it."