The operations team were recently offered an opportunity to get inside Fugro’s state of the art training centre in Plymouth. Being office based the majority of time this was a great chance to reconnect with the work and technology our contractors use.
The opportunity arose after speaking with Darren (Fugro Training Centre Manager) at Oceanology International 2024 in March. During this chat it was clear that Fugro’s commitment to being a military friendly employer aligned with our support of the Armed Forces Covenant. So an opportunity to strengthen our partnership was gratefully received. To then sit in the seats of our contractors, we gained back a true insight into their current training experience. It took us right back to ours as well!
Darren and his team were generous with both their knowledge and time. There was a full tour of the facilities, which included a poke around the areas they run courses, such as CAT B Hydrographic Survey and ROV Pilot course (all open to the public). Theses courses are also offered to Fugro staff and to potential Fugro freelance contractors. We were literally sitting in the seats of our contractors.
The team then got to try their hand at the state-of-the-art ROV simulator. They searched and recovered the missing black box from a plane wreckage. Now, not to say it’s about who recovered the missing item first… but if there was a prize Jess and Molly would have been bidding for that top spot!
The final stop was onboard a training vessel. The team had a good look around, including a tour of the kit and software onboard. These systems may be second nature to our contractors, but we were a little rusty, so it was great to get a visual and grip back on it all. Mike, Director, added ‘it was a good day for the team. We are grateful to Darren for taking the time out to show us around. Keeping a grip on our contractor’s experience is important to us, so we didn’t want to miss this opportunity. The military ties are a bonus to this working relationship too, it’s an important cause to support, collectively.’
