The global subsea services company will move from its existing premises in the town to the new development in the coming months, continuing the company’s 27-year association with Darlington. It has taken the entire top floor of Feethams House, covering over 7000 sq ft.
Employing over 100 specialists in the town, DeepOcean also has a centre of engineering expertise and offshore maintenance facility in Blyth, Northumberland. DeepOcean is highly active in offshore energy markets, particularly oil & gas, offshore wind as well as subsea internet cables.
DeepOcean undertakes complete Engineering & Marine works solutions for large subsea cable projects associated with offshore wind farms, as well as providing inter-country links, such as the recently installed Nemo cable which provides two percent of the UK’s electricity by connecting the UK & Belgium.
Feethams House will also provide a base for DeepOcean’s subsea trenching and seabed intervention division, Enshore, with staff working between Darlington and its facility at the Port of Blyth in the development, maintenance and operation of the world’s most advanced fleet of underwater trenching vehicles.
Enshore is also pioneering the development of technology to harvest subsea minerals, which will play a vital role in sourcing clean metals for batteries in the latest generation of electric vehicles.
Feethams House is an £8.5m office complex in the heart of Darlington town centre. The five-storey building, adjacent to the DL1 leisure complex, has been funded by Darlington Borough Council, the Tees Valley Mayor and Combined Authority and the European Regional Development Fund.
The Grade A standard building offers accommodation for small and medium businesses in the professional services, digital and creative fields. Work on the 30,000sq ft building is scheduled to be completed by spring.
Pierre Boyde, Managing Director of Enshore, said: “The North East continues to grow in strategic importance for DeepOcean and Enshore, and this new office will support the continued development of our activities. We have always benefited from the excellent talent pool in Darlington and the wider North East and this new office will also further help us attract people to work at DeepOcean from beyond the region.
“Our vision is to be the world’s leading subsea services provider. We are excited by the tremendous opportunities in the offshore wind industry, both in the UK and further afield as well as rising to the challenge of sourcing metals from the ocean floor in an environmentally sustainable way that supports the transition away from fossil fuels to a low carbon economy.
“Feethams House provides a long-term, sustainable location from which to grow our business and will allow us to also continue to benefit from Darlington’s excellent transport links, which very much supports both our domestic and international operations.”
Councillor Heather Scott, leader of Darlington Borough Council, said: “We’re delighted to welcome DeepOcean as the first tenant in Feethams House. It is a company that has been in Darlington for a long time and has been looking for a new office location for a while. This is a signal of the confidence it has in this new building, and in the town and we wish them every success in the future.
“There are a number of potential other tenants interested in the remaining available space and we invite anyone looking to grow their business or move to more suitable accommodation to contact us. Feethams House is a high-quality building that makes the most of Darlington’s excellent rail links and its proximity to the town centre.”
Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said: “The Grade-A office space at Feethams House is fundamental to attracting top-quality businesses to Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool and retaining fantastic companies such as DeepOcean that have already shown huge commitment to our region. We know the potential of Feethams House, which is why we agreed to invest £3.2million into the project.
“I’m delighted that DeepOcean, a growing business which will play a crucial role in the offshore sector in our region is the first to come on board. This news follows the announcement last week that we have submitted our plans to the government to transform Darlington Railway Station, less than ten minutes away, which will provide even better connectivity to our capital and major cities for business. This, coupled with the return of a direct flight to London from Teesside International from April 27th, means the capital has never been easier to get to for business.”
Peter Gibson, Member of Parliament for Darlington said: “I very pleased that DeepOcean has chosen to locate its UK Headquarters in what I’m sure will become a thriving business hub for our town. Feethams House is a first-class development in the heart of Darlington. Its state-of-the-art, energy-efficient, attractive facilities are conveniently located, and well-appointed, giving us, as a town, the opportunity to attract new job-creating businesses to the area.”
