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WATCH: Ardersier Port owners confident to open next year as key construction works are completed





A major new Moray Firth energy facility is set to be open within a year.

Lewis Gillies, Haventus Chief Executive Officer. Picture: James Mackenzie
Lewis Gillies, Haventus Chief Executive Officer. Picture: James Mackenzie

Construction works at Ardersier Port, to create Scotland’s largest facility on the North Sea coast for deploying and servicing offshore wind installation, began in April this year and is currently running ahead of schedule according to site owner Haventus.

A new quay wall - 35m deep and around 650m long - was completed earlier this month, marking a significant milestone in the construction journey.

Chief executive Lewis Gillies said: “The new quay wall replaces the one that was originally used here, back in the 70s, 80s and 90s when McDermott operated the site. They built the first generation of energy out of here, such as oil platforms and jackets that were then taken out to the North Sea to produce energy.

Lewis Gillies, Haventus chief executive officer. Pictures: James Mackenzie
Lewis Gillies, Haventus chief executive officer. Pictures: James Mackenzie

“What we expect to see when we open before the end of next year is the next generation of energy being built out of here.

“I am pleased to say that we have now completed the new quay wall and we did so ahead of time and on budget, which was really great news for the team.”

Works to develop the site’s new gateway entrance and improve access from the B9092 are ongoing and on site itself channel dredging is now set to be carried out before phase two of the planned works sees the quay wall extended by 1km, with work on that due to start in 2026.

Haventus offices. Picture: James Mackenzie
Haventus offices. Picture: James Mackenzie

The 450-acre facility is one of the largest industrial regeneration projects in the Highlands in decades and aims to re-establish the port as a major local employer.

Between 450 to 500 contractors were on site during the construction of the quay wall, and around 300 after that was completed.

Mr Gillies said they have big hopes for the future: “In our ideal world, what we hope to achieve by the end of this decade is to create somewhere in the region of 3000 permanent jobs here, and see in excess of a billion pounds invested in the site, which we think is quite doable.”

Lewis Gillies, Haventus Chief Executive Officer and Jonathan Milne, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer. Picture: James Mackenzie
Lewis Gillies, Haventus Chief Executive Officer and Jonathan Milne, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer. Picture: James Mackenzie

The interest of potential customers has been growing exponentially, he added, both among those developing major offshore wind projects, which need large onshore sites for development of the necessary infrastructure, and those interested in manufacturing and assembling components for that industry.

“This aligns with the Scottish and UK government objectives of adding large local content which, in turn, should create many, many jobs and many, many, many further investments or opportunities here,” Mr Gillies said.

“So over the coming year we would love to see significant investment in this site and also a significant number of jobs created here.”

Picture: James Mackenzie
Picture: James Mackenzie

Since it arrived in the area Haventus has reached out to the local community in a number of ways, sponsoring various organisations including Nairn Book and Arts Festival and creating a community benefit fund with a commitment to provide £100,000 a year to local community groups and activities over the next decade.

“We believe that we have gone out of our way to be good neighbours,” Mr Gillies said. “It’s very hard to for us to exist here if we don't have good relationships with our neighbours, so we are proactively engaged with Nairn, Cawdor, Ardersier and Inverness.”


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