Work is underway to create to create four new business units at Wick Business Park, following interest from local firms. Caithness company, John Gunn & Sons was appointed by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) for the development, following a public tendering process.
Wick Harbour Authority is making progress with its plans to create a heavy-lift facility on the commercial quay at Wick harbour, with contractors Gunns Lybster Ltd having now begun the work. The project, and its associated dredging works, was supported by CNSRP partners HIE and NDA respectively and is the first of several proposed phases of work to position the harbour as a key player in the energy sector, with the current focus being on potential to benefit from the development of Offshore Wind in the Moray Firth.
Craig Harvey (21) from Wick in the Highlands, has been crowned Scotland’s top Civil Engineering Apprentice of 2013 at the annual SBATC Apprentice of the Year awards. The title was presented to Craig at a special ceremony held on Tuesday 10th December at the Scottish Parliament.
Thousands of tourists beating a path to Greenwich, home of the Olympic Equestrian Centre and Royal Museums Greenwich, may find their feet on Caithness stone if they also stop by the world’s last surviving tea clipper. One of the world’s most famous ships, the Cutty Sark was devastated by fire in 2007, but opened again to the public this year in grand style after six years of intensive conservation work.
AMC Engineering Ltd, whose head office is at Findon just outside Aberdeen, is set to expand their Caithness division by building a new workshop at their site outside Lybster, with the assistance of a grant of £76,250 from Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE). Managing Director Andrew Polson, who hails from Caithness and whose parents still live on the family croft at Smerlie next door to the company's workshops, explained that the skill and application of the local work-force was a key factor in deciding to site the new workshop in the north.
Latest research and technology is allowing a Caithness business to work in new ways with the area's best known natural resource. A&D Sutherland, a family business which has been quarrying and preparing Caithness Flagstone from Spittal for more than 40 years, has traditionally supplied paving and hard stones for large architectural contracts, as well providing items like hearths.
A £2.4 million project to place 350 fresh academic minds in ambitious businesses across the region is being introduced by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE). Over the next three years small and medium sized businesses and social enterprises from across the region will be supported to employ university students, graduates and post-graduates for up to a year.
The North's world-renowned building stone is demonstrating its versatility by featuring in a £57 million Scottish project to create a flagship library for the University of Aberdeen. Caithness Stone Industries has secured a multi-million pound contract to provide both building and specialist finished stone for key areas of the development.
A new headquarters that provides a world-class working environment and creates a business campus positioning it as an employer of choice, has won a prestigious national building award for the Royal Bank of Scotland in Gogarburn, Edinburgh. Designed by Edinburgh-based architectural firm, Michael Laird Architects, the new building and 100-acre site has won the top award for a new modern building with non-load bearing stone in this year's Natural Stone Awards.
A new marketing campaign aimed at promoting Caithness flagstone as a paving material in English towns and cities is getting underway thanks to Caithness and Sutherland Enterprise (CASE). Caithness-based A & D Sutherland Ltd have won many high profile contracts in Scotland including the Royal Mile in Edinburgh and Glasgow's Buchanan Street, but jobs south of the border have been few and far between in recent years.
