A tech firm specialising in complex engineering and building projects has opened a new Tees Valley office.

Survey 3Di NE – a subsidiary of Aberdeen-based Survey 3Di Ltd – has opened an office at the Wilton Centre to look for more opportunities in the area and to hopefully work with some of its new neighbours.

More than 60 companies are based at the Centre and over the past 18 months other businesses working in energy, engineering and construction have set up operations there. They include Costain, TRL and Glacier Energy.

Survey 3Di’s Engineering Director Kevin Woodhouse, who comes from Stockton, said: “It’s going to be so busy on Teesside over the next few years and it made sense to have a team down here to try to service the requirements.

“With all the different companies here already we saw it as a good base to interact and, with the prospect of more coming in, it’s a logical step to be in the Wilton Centre.”

Survey 3Di was launched in 2019 and supports its global energy customers with Dimension Control Surveys providing three dimensional measurements and Laser Scanning allowing the mass capture of data.

Three engineers are being recruited for the Wilton Centre office and three surveyors, all from Teesside, are transferring from Aberdeen.

Although he served his apprenticeship on Teesside and has been back in the area for the last three years, Kevin, aged 62, spent around 30 years working in the North East of Scotland.

"Back then there weren’t companies with a requirement for engineering design so you had to move away for long-term work. But thankfully that’s now changed and the business sees the North East as a boom area. It’s a great opportunity and really exciting,” he said.

Claire Morton, the Centre’s Leasing and Assistant Asset Manager, added: “We’re delighted to welcome Kevin and his colleagues and the company’s decision to come here demonstrates yet again the value of our location, the quality of our facilities and the potential our occupiers have to do business with each other.”

The Wilton Centre, which is just outside the boundary of the Teesside Freeport, is now 90% full. As well as providing work space for companies like Survey 3Di, its offices and laboratories are much in demand from life science businesses. It is owned by Pioneer Group which has another nine sites in the UK and Ireland - home to 350 businesses.