Over 50 businesses attended SSE’s ‘Business Opportunities’ event in Strathy last week to find out about the ongoing opportunities around the construction of its £109m Strathy North wind farm in Sutherland.
The event attracted businesses from across the north Highlands who took the opportunity to talk to SSE’s project construction team and principal civil contractor, RJ McLeod, about the services they could offer and how to get involved with the project.
In addition, businesses were keen to meet SSE’s Open4Business procurement team to understand how to register their business on the portal, www.sseopen4business-highlands.com, where the Strathy North project opportunities will be advertised.
A range of other SSE businesses and members of staff were also represented at the event to talk to people about SSE’s apprenticeship scheme and community investment funds, as well as partner organisations such as Caithness Chamber of Commerce and Achilles.
Rod Crawford, SSE’s Project Manager, said: “This has been a really busy and successful event, with a great turn-out from businesses in the local area, as well as those from further afield such as Orkney and Aberdeen. The feedback from attendees has been really positive and they’ve appreciated the fact that we’ve brought along the people that actually make the decisions and place the contracts for the services, skills and supplies we need.
“It’s also been great to see members from the community popping in to say hello and find out how things are going. The event has attracted a lot of people to the area and has been a really positive way of demonstrating SSE’s responsible approach and commitment to maximising the benefits of this project for local businesses and the community.”
James Magee, local joiner and contractor from Bettyhill, said: "It's good to see the commitment from SSE and RJ McLeod's to involving local businesses and giving work and employment to local contractors. The event has been well attended, with the car-park overflowing at times, and it seems to have been a really positive day."
Janette MacKay, Strathy & Armadale Community Council Chairperson, said: “SSE has worked hard to ensure that the event was well organised and relevant to the local area, and the feedback from within the community has been excellent.
“There are a growing number of people from the immediate communities of Strathy, Bettyhill and Melvich who have received work and long-term employment from the project either during the ‘enabling’ period or since the main construction phase has started, in addition to the bigger businesses in the wider north coast area. In fact, there are more people than we realised who are getting jobs from the project.
“Local services such as shops, B&Bs and hotels are also benefitting and the community investment funds will also soon be open for applications. It’s great to see the many ways that this project is having a positive impact on the area.”
The 33-turbine project is located approximately 7km south of Strathy village in an area of commercial forestry plantation. Planning consent was received from the Scottish Government in November 2011. Enabling works started on site in summer 2013 and construction is expected to take around two years to complete, with the project becoming fully operational towards the end of 2015.
Further information about the event can be found on the project website at www.sse.com/strathynorth.