News / New jobs and decommissioning hopes as Aberdeen firm acquires recycling site
NEW JOBS will be created in Shetland after an Aberdeen-based company acquired 60 North Recycling in Lerwick with the view of tapping into the decommissioning market.
John Lawrie Group aims to turn the Rova Head site into a “full-service” scrap metal processing and decommissioning facility as it expands the services offered.
The metal recycling and decommissioning company is already recruiting for an operations manager as well as material handler operators and scrap burners.
John Lawrie Group – which has bases across Scotland as well as Houston in the US – said the site is “strategically placed to support the oil and gas decommissioning sector in the area”.
Minor decommissioning work has taken place in Lerwick over the last decade, while the dismantling of the large Buchan Alpha oil platform recently started at Lerwick Port Authority’s new Dales Voe site.
All employees who worked for 60 North Recycling have been moved to John Lawrie Group and investment is expected in new technology.
Operations director Dave Weston said the company is “very pleased” to be operating in Shetland.
“This investment will help deliver an enhanced service to our existing and future customers, and will continue to create new employment opportunities in the area,” he said.
John Lawrie Group was founded in 1930 and it has been involved in the dismantling of large oilfield and subsea infrastructure for over two decades.
60 North Recycling was founded by Ian Kinniburgh following a management buyout in 2001, taking over the waste management assets of SOES Ltd.
Ten years later the company was sold to Lancaster-based businessman Charles Barton.
In 2014 it struck a deal to avoid bankruptcy after owing almost £200,000 in VAT and corporation tax.
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