5 / 08 / 07 - NHC going from strength to strength

Income quadruples in 30 months In a dramatic turnaround in its fortunes after many years in the doldrums, the National Hyperbaric Centre (NHC) in Aberdeen, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, has posted figures which show a quadrupling of its income and a trebling of its workforce over the past 30 months. Turnover is now in excess of £3.5 million and the workforce has risen from 8 to 24. During the period in question the NHC has been under independent ownership led by Managing Director David Smith, a noted subsea specialist and entrepreneur with over 30 years experience in the sector. The NHC has been involved with the diving industry since its inception in the provision of training, testing, hyperbaric and decompression studies. It has a unique saturation diving system for trials down to 600m and has been used for numerous diving physiological experiments over the years. It also operates and maintains a state of the art medical recompression chamber for Grampian Health Board. However, since becoming an independent limited company at the beginning of 2005 it has expanded its range of services and broadened its client base. This now includes the wider subsea industry, specialised pressure related industries and the medical and military markets. Areas of expertise cover testing and trials; training and consultancy; medical and diving emergency; equipment servicing and research and development. International expansion has also been a key feature of the recent past with 40% of revenues generated coming from abroad. Recent major overseas commissions include running training courses in Houston and Egypt, hydrostatic testing of underwater winches and valves for far East and eastern European clients and the supply of equipment, including a decompression chamber, for a mid-European client. Training courses have been carried out in Houston and Egypt and delegates from countries such as Australia, South Africa, India and both East and Western Europe have attended various courses at the NHC. “The Centre’s previous ownership has varied at times between the public sector and major diving companies,” commented David Smith. “While the former provided stability and the latter credibility in the sector, there were also constraints to expansion into other markets and services. “Our stated intention when we acquired the business was to establish a worldwide centre of excellence for subsea safety based in Aberdeen and we are well on the way to achieving this. “I believe the team we have now assembled, together with their wealth of experience in a variety of subsea activities from offshore to inshore and military diving operations, makes us uniquely placed on a global basis,” added Mr Smith.