EIC Award win for NRL’s Ultrasonics team

NRL Group’s Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) business has been crowned the winner of the diversification category at the 2021 EIC Awards.

The ceremony, which took place virtually on Thursday 2^nd December, highlighted the leading organisations in the energy supply chain through 15 award categories. 61 Energy Industries Council (EIC) members entered the awards, including organisations that featured earlier in the year in the EIC’s Survive & Thrive report, which shone a spotlight on those members who have adapted and grown their businesses to introduce new services and innovations.

Award categories included businesses that had demonstrated excellence through scaling up, transitioning to cleaner energy sources, collaborating and optimising their operations. Colleagues from NRL’s Ultrasonic Qualification and Inspection division were delighted to win the diversification award, after establishing a new expertise for the NDT business in February 2020.

By opening a new office in Bristol to expand the historically Radiography focused NDT business to offer a new Ultrasonics service, NRL demonstrated a strategic approach to diversification in line with growing demand in the UK nuclear new build market. Welcoming new colleagues on board to increase their operational capacity and service expertise.

Discussing the award win the EIC’s CEO Stuart R Broadley said,

“Congratulations to all the team at NRL Group for winning the 2021 EIC Diversification Award. Diversification was the most popular growth strategy employed by businesses for the second year running in 2020-21, as highlighted in the latest EIC Survive & Thrive research, and as such was a much sought after award, with the highest number of applicants of any award category.

The start-up mentality and continual strive for disrupting the norm stood out for the judges, backed up by clear focus of their new NDT strategy, to diversify from radiography to phased ultrasonic testing, bringing significant new breakthrough contract wins.”

Reflecting on the accolade NRL’s UT Operations Director Tim Stubbs said,

“We wanted to introduce a professional, collaborative, and commercially flexible NDT Qualification service to NRL’s long-standing history of NDT expertise. Coupled with industry need, we recognised the opportunity to grow and develop the business through supporting this key area in the UK’s nuclear energy aspirations. Over the past three decades the team have gained an unrivalled reputation for safely delivering Radiographic inspections on licensed plant, and by expanding into qualification and validation projects using Ultrasonic technologies, we’re now able to provide a more extensive service to our clients. Receiving this much welcomed award from the EIC is a great testament to the hard work and determination our Bristol team have dedicated to set-up our Ultrasonics operation. I extend my congratulations to each of them, our clients for their valuable collaborative input, and not least the other deserving businesses who won awards at this year’s event.”