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Feritech Global officially received the King’s Award for Enterprise today, at a ceremony held in their Innovation Centre near Falmouth.

The company was named a winner of the prestigious King’s Award earlier this year and MD Rob Ferris was invited to a celebratory dinner at Buckingham Palace in June. Feritech Global received the accolade in recognition of their outstanding success in international trade.

Today, the official presentation of the King’s Award was made by the HM Lord-Lieutenant of Cornwall, Colonel Edward Bolitho OBE. The Lord-Lieutenant presented the trophy, an engraved glass bowl, to Rob Ferris.

The Lord-Lieutenant was accompanied by Deputy Lieutenant, James Staughton OBE and by Leading Cadet William Wooller.

The King’s Awards flag was also raised at the Feritech Innovation Centre.

Rob Ferris said:

“Receiving  a  King’s Award is a huge honour for Feritech Global. It  is wonderful recognition of the sustained hard work by our talented team. We will fly the King’s Awards flag proudly.”

With customers in over forty countries around the world, exports account for a massive 95% of Feritech’s turnover. The company is hungry for further growth and sees the USA as a major new business opportunity, as that country invests heavily in offshore wind development – which will require exactly the type of services that Feritech provides.

 

Photo shows: Front Row – from Left to Right, Leading Cadet William Wooller, HM Lord-Lieutenant of Cornwall, Colonel Edward Bolitho OBE, Rob Ferris, MD Feritech, with Feritech staff behind.

Photo Credit: Exposure Photo Agency

27th June 2023 was a red letter day for the team at Feritech Global.

Following the announcement in April that Feritech was to receive a King’s Award for Enterprise for their outstanding success in international trade, Rob Ferris was invited to attend a special awards dinner hosted at Buckingham Palace.

Instituted by Royal Warrant in 1965, The King’s Award for Enterprise (formerly known as the Queen’s Award for Enterprise) is the most prestigious business awards scheme in the United Kingdom, with recipients recognised as being among the best of British businesses. The awards celebrate outstanding achievements by UK firms in the categories of innovation, international trade, sustainable development and promoting opportunity through social mobility.

Joined by The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh and The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, The King personally welcomed recipients of The King’s Award for Enterprise to the palace. During the reception, His Majesty met a diverse group of winners from across the United Kingdom, many of whom are leaders in their fields.

Commenting on the event, Rob Ferris said:

“This was a huge honour for our business and the culmination of years of hard work by our brilliant team. It is great that The King’s Award scheme provides such excellent support to British businesses.

“To be recognised in this way as one of the top businesses in the country, and to be at Buckingham Palace for such a dazzling event, made me realise just how far we have come in the relatively short time since Gemma and I founded the business. We already trade in more than 40 countries, with plans to expand this even further in the coming 12 months.

“With our new Innovation Centre now well established, and with the talented people we have working for us, I firmly believe that the next five years will be an even more exciting period for our business.”

Addtech Industrial Solutions, a business area in the Addtech Group, has signed an agreement to acquire 90% of the shares outstanding in Feritech Global Ltd.

Rob Ferris, MD of Feritech Global, said: “This is a very exciting development for Feritech Global. It will provide greater financial strength and support our continued ambitious international growth. We are delighted to be joining the Addtech family.”

Feritech is a leader in the design and manufacture of bespoke technical solutions for the geotechnical subsea sector. The company has a broad offering and operates globally mainly towards the expansion of offshore wind power.

Addtech is a Swedish publicly listed technical solutions group. The business comprises about 140 independent companies that sell high-tech products and solutions to customers primarily in the manufacturing and infrastructure sectors in around 20 countries.

Daniel Prelevic, Business Area Manager, Addtech Industrial Solutions says: “With its broad offering, primarily for the expansion of offshore wind power, Feritech will complement and strengthen our existing operations within the Vehicle Solutions business unit in a very good way.”

More information about the Addtech Group can be found here.

Feritech Global has won an award for ‘Impact on Cornwall’ at the Marine-i Innovation and Technology Awards 2023. The event was held at the Atlantic Hotel in Newquay on 3^rd March to celebrate the achievements of the £13.4 million Marine-I programme.

Part funded by the European Regional Development Fund, Marine-i has supported nearly 200 businesses in Cornwall and Scilly to accelerate their innovations over the six year programme 2017-2023.

Awards were made in three categories to the businesses which were selected as outstanding by an independent panel of judges.

The judges took into account Feritech’s export success (with customers in over 40 countries), its recent launch of a new Innovation Centre (which sets new standards in sustainable design) and also the global potential impact of its latest innovation, the world’s first autonomous subsea vehicle for geotechnical surveying.

Prof Lars Johanning of University of Exeter and Programme Director for Marine-i said:

“Feritech’s concept could revolutionise the way in which geotechnical survey work is carried out around the world. By reducing cost and risk for developers, it will also help accelerate the growth of floating offshore wind in the Celtic Sea, generating a positive economic impact on the local supply chain.”

Rob Ferris, MD of Feritech Global, said: “We are delighted to win this prestigious award, especially as we were up against such incredibly stiff competition from other businesses supported by Marine-i. We have had exceptional success in awards schemes this year. In fact, this is our second award this week! We are very pleased that the hard work, ingenuity and vision of our team is being recognised and celebrated.”

Photo shows, from left to right: Prof Lars Johanning (Programme Director, Marine-i): Rosie Ayling (Feritech Global); Thelma Sorensen OBE (Chair, Cornwall Business Partnership); Connor Eade (Feritech Global)

Feritech features in a video that details how Marine-i has worked with businesses over the last six years. You can view the video by clicking here.

The team at Feritech are celebrating after being chosen as the winners of the Sustainability Award in the South West Final of the FSB Celebrating Small Business Awards for 2023.

These awards are the largest scheme of their kind in the UK and the South West winners were announced at a gala event on Wednesday 1^st March 2023, held at the Winter Gardens, Weston-super-Mare.

The awards were judged by an independent panel of business leaders. For the Sustainability Award businesses had to highlight their sustainability achievements and showcase how they are helping to drive wider progress in the green economy.

When planning their new Innovation Centre near Falmouth, Feritech took a radical approach to environmental sustainability. The £3m purpose-built facility was opened by HRH The Duke of Kent and has some special features:

• The site harvests its own water, from boreholes that Feritech has drilled.
• It has a state of the art solar roof, combined with on-site power storage, and uses air source heating for the offices.
• Feritech has planted 3,000 trees, to help blend with the rural location and promote biodiversity.
• A pond captures the surface run-off from the site, creating a heat store and providing new wildlife habitats.
• Rather than metal fences, Feritech planted 5,500 hawthorn bushes, making a natural, maintenance-free barrier.
• The building is designed so that there is no light pollution or noise pollution.

Commenting on the awards, Feritech Managing Director, Rob Ferris, said:

“This is fabulous recognition for all the hard work our team has put into planning and building our new Innovation Centre. We set out to prove that advanced manufacturing could work in harmony with the natural environment, and it is great to have this endorsement from independent business experts.”

Feritech will now go on to represent the South West in the national final of these awards.

This prestigious awards scheme celebrates the most innovative and successful tech companies across the whole of the South West region. We were delighted to hear that Feritech has been named as a finalist in the Marine Tech Award category for 2022.

Feritech has beaten off stiff competition with over 250 other companies having entered the awards scheme this year.

Rob Ferris, MD of Feritech, says: “We are thrilled by this exciting news. It is testament to the hard work and vision of our team. We are keeping our fingers crossed for the announcement of the winner in November.”

Feritech won the ‘Exporter of the Year’ award at the Tech South West Awards in 2021.

The 2022 winners will be announced at a ceremony on Thursday 10th November at Aerospace Bristol.

You can see full details of all the finalists at the link below:

Tech South West Awards Finalists 2022

Feritech Global is proud to be hosting a workshop on anchoring and mooring of floating offshore wind (FLOW) at their new Innovation Centre near Falmouth on 22nd September 2022.

Organised by the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult on behalf of the Cornwall FLOW Accelerator project, the workshop will have particular reference to the Celtic Sea and the challenges and opportunities that exist for Cornwall and the wider Celtic Sea region.

The event will share leading edge research and aims to promote industry collaboration.

Rob Ferris, MD of Feritech Global, says: “Anchoring and mooring is a major challenge to address for floating wind in the Celtic Sea. At Feritech Global, we are excited by the emerging innovation opportunities and we are determined our company will be a leader in the FLOW industry, coming up with engineering and technology solutions that break new ground.”

At the workshop, Feritech Global will be joined by other Cornish marine tech businesses, including Reflex Marine, Morek Engineering, Tugdock Limited, Solis Marine and Inyanga Marine Projects.

The event will feature presenters from ORE Catapult, University of Exeter, Celtic Sea Power, Copenhagen Offshore Partners, Reflex Marine, Intelligent Mooring Solutions, Morek Engineering and Inyanga, as well as Feritech Global.

Rob adds: “This will be an important and high profile event that will help lay the groundwork for further development work. Floating Offshore Wind is a fast growing industry worldwide and Feritech Global is rising to the innovation challenges.”

The team at Feritech is celebrating after the company won the prestigious ‘Exporter of the Year’ title at the 2022 Cornwall Business Awards.

The awards ceremony took place on 30th June at St Mellion Estate, with representatives of many leading Cornish businesses in attendance.

The awards are open to businesses of all sizes from right across the county. The award for export was sponsored by Business Cornwall magazine. This is the first time that Feritech has entered the awards, so scooping this accolade at the first attempt was especially exciting.

Rob Ferris, Managing Director of Feritech, (pictured above with co-founder Gemma Ferris) said:

“This award is great recognition for our dedicated team and all of their hard work.

“As an advanced engineering company, we have always had a global outlook. All our equipment is made at our own facility in Cornwall, then taken wherever our clients need it! We operate in some of the most challenging environments around the world, and we now have customers in more than 40 countries. Exports account for 95% of our turnover.

“The opening of our new state of the art Innovation Centre has provided a fabulous platform for future growth, and we will be expanding into further new territories in the course of this year.”

To view a brief video by the Judging Panel explaining the reasons why Feritech was chosen as the winner of this award, click here.

Over the last two months, Feritech Global has been hitting the headlines in a wide range of international business media, reflecting the huge industry interest in our pioneering, innovative approach.

April 2022 saw the official opening of our new £3 million state of the art Innovation Centre near Falmouth UK, with our guest of honour for the day being HRH The Duke of Kent. Years in the planning, this new facility will offer a full range of services including product design, machining, fabrication, electrical, electronics, embedded software, hydraulics and 3D printing services – all under one roof. This will be one of the most advanced facilities of its kind in the UK. This new innovation centre will give us space to grow as a business, by expanding our range of services, helping us win important new contracts, and providing new job opportunities in our local area.

In May 2022 we announced the launch of Sealance. This new product is expected to create a step change in subsea geotechnical surveying. The Sealance brings the various functions required for geotechnical surveying together in one streamlined product, enabling significantly reduced timescales for projects. The Sealance will be a real gamechanger in specific areas of geotechnical surveying, such as for cable routes and pipelines. This is truly disruptive technology and paves the way for our next exciting development, a range of autonomous products within our portfolio.

In May 2022, Feritech was also named a finalist in the ‘Exporter of the Year’ category in the Cornwall Business Awards 2022.

You can see examples of the excellent media coverage we have received by clicking on the links below.

Rob Ferris, MD of Feritech Global, says: “Ever since our company was founded, we have been determined to be a leader, not a follower. These two projects are excellent demonstrations of that philosophy in action.”

 

Coverage of New Innovation Centre:

Ocean Buzz

Manufacturing and Production Engineering

Machinery Market

Production Engineering Solutions

Ocean News and Technology

South West Tech Daily

Business Cornwall

Cornwall and IOS Growth Hub

 

Coverage of Sealance launch:

Ocean Buzz

ECO Magazine

South West Tech Daily

Offshore Source

Ocean News & Technology

WorkBoat365

Business Cornwall

WindTech International

Feritech Global is delighted to be featured in a new website that has been launched to showcase the leading companies within the fast-growing space sector. The space sector in Cornwall has grown 164% since 2010 and is expected to deliver £1 billion of additional economic value by 2030.

Rob Ferris, MD of Feritech Global, says: “Having built our reputation in subsea geotechnical surveying, we have outstanding credentials in providing advanced engineering which is reliable in harsh environments. Space is an exciting sector which is being given extra impetus by Spaceport Cornwall. We are proud to be able to bring our innovation skills and expertise to help meet the challenges of this ambitious industry.

“Our new Innovation Centre near Falmouth is the only manufacturing facility in the South West to offer such a comprehensive range of services on one site – product design, fabrication, electrical, electronics, embedded software, hydraulics and 3D printing. We are ideally placed to design and manufacture complex components for the space industry and we can take on the most demanding and challenging briefs.

“Our transition into space is a natural one, with the sub-ocean industry being similar to space in terms of environmental pressures, and the tools and technology required. Many of the skills we’ve developed in our work can be easily transferred to space.

“We are looking forward to being a pioneer of the space industry as it takes off in the UK.”

You can see the new website here.