John Lawrie Metals employee development

An article from BMRA member John Lawrie Metals about how it is supporting Alistair Addy through his MSc Decommissioning with the University of Aberdeen.

At John Lawrie Metals (JLM) we are acutely aware of the benefits of continuous professional development amongst our team and that’s why we are delighted to be supporting one of our employees with his career progression as he works towards achieving a MSc in Decommissioning from the University of Aberdeen.

Alistair (Ali) Addy joined JLM in the autumn of 2020 having been made redundant during the COVID-19 pandemic. With existing qualifications and experience in Sports and Exercise science, Ali moved into the scrap metal industry straight out of university. Working as assistant manager at John Williamson 1988 allowed him to get involved with several decommissioning projects and gain valuable experience in the running of a metal recycling facility. This was followed by a two-year stint offshore as a cementer on the Dunlin Alpha decommissioning campaign working for Halliburton and involved pressure testing, pumping cement plugs for abandoning wells and running downhole tools. 

Ali then joined us as part of our Aberdeen operations team. Starting out as a Burner – a skilled role involving cutting metals down in size using oxy propylene burners – Ali spent his first year experiencing all aspects of yard work, including working offsite on oil and gas related decommissioning projects. During 2021, JLM also offered Ali the chance to complete his WAMITAB Level 4 High Risk Operator Competence for Managing Transfer of Hazardous Waste, with the award currently pending external verification.

Having already started studying one module of the decommissioning course prior to joining JLM, his commitment and ambition to developing his career was evident and JLM agreed we would support him through the rest of the entire course. 

The MSc in Decommissioning, run online over two-and-a-half years, is the world’s first and only accredited online Masters degree in decommissioning oil rigs, platforms and offshore structures, giving unique insight into the entire process of taking offshore platforms out of service. 

Ali comments: “I am immensely grateful to JLM for supporting me through my further education; I am looking forward to learning new skills that complement what I’m already competent at and aim one day to be fully emersed in supporting and managing decommissioning projects for John Lawrie.”

Dave Weston, MD John Lawrie Metals, adds: “We are keen to keep evolving the skillset of our highly accomplished team. Although we have a relatively low head count each and every member of our team plays a significant role in the safe and efficient execution of any kind of project work we carry out. We are delighted to be supporting Ali through his studies and look forward to embracing his learnings. Finding time to take on further study is no mean feat and we commend him for his commitment.”

You can find out more about the MSc in Decommissioning on the university website here, which is  accredited by the Energy Institute and Institute of Marine Engineering, Science & Technology.