EIC Member Focus: David Clark, Vysus Group

Can you tell us a bit about Vysus Group?

Vysus Group is a leading engineering and technical consultancy. We deliver asset performance, risk management and project management expertise across complex industrial assets, energy assets (oil and gas, nuclear, renewables), the energy transition, rail and road. We’re 650 employees strong, spread over 30 offices worldwide.

Following a strategic carve-out from the Lloyd’s Register (LR) Group in November 2020, LR’s Energy business became Vysus Group, retaining LR Energy’s entire capability and full suite of technical, regulatory and operational expertise globally.

What services do you offer the energy industry?

Our portfolio is broad, as is our client base. Often our clients come to us with a symptom, we identify the problem and formulate the right solution. From design to decommissioning, our specific services include asset performance management; risk management; geo-engineering; well project management, engineering and operations; rig inspection; survey and data management; grid connection and power engineering.

We will continue to diversify into new industries and are actively involved in renewables projects. To date, we’ve supported around 50% of the UK’s offshore wind projects, and 60% of grid-scale wind and solar projects in the Australian National Electricity Market.

What’s a typical day like?

No two days are the same, as no two projects are the same. Our client’s projects are diverse, adding to the excitement of each day – from ensuring business continuity for critical data centre infrastructure, to providing well project management to Denmark’s first exploration well drilled in five years, to characterising a windfarm site through subsea geotechnical and ground modelling. The projects we’re involved in have allowed us to build a serious skills base and cross-sector insight, unrivalled by most engineering consultancies.

COVID-19 also turned the ‘average’ day on its head. Within weeks of the global shutdown in March we had pivoted our proposition to focus on remote presence and optimisation, allowing clients to manage their risk and performance from a distance.

What would it surprise our readers to know about Vysus Group?

Our broad capability. When people dig deeper they realise we’re a treasure chest of deep technical and regulatory expertise with a really impressive portfolio of projects and solutions delivered across the years. They may know us from some of the legacy businesses integrated over the 20-odd years and they may not be aware of how these have all come together under the name Vysus Group – derived from the Latin word Visus, which means vision and looking forward to the future.

And you?

With everyone moving to home working this year, my colleagues and customers, have had a view into my home office and so have seen some of my music collection on the walls, and my very under-used drum kit.

How have you been able to maintain good mental health and wellbeing in the workplace amid COVID-19?  

We’ve tried to manage uncertainty on all aspects through regular communication. We’re cognisant of family life, the pressure of home schooling, working from home, employees not able to see loved ones and the general anxiety that creeps in for many of us amid a global pandemic. But our employees have been incredible – I’m in awe of how many of them have juggled the situation with little, if any, impact on their job. Not only did we have to work in a new way and deliver projects remotely, we also completed a huge strategic carve-out successfully, and that’s testament to their hard work and commitment.

How do you plan in these times of unprecedented uncertainty?

Our services and solutions are sector agnostic, so while one industry dips, another may plateau and others may grow. For example, we’ve seen significant demand for our grid connection, power engineering, survey and geotechnical solutions during the course of 2020. You must be prepared and agile in a cyclical market, but I’m confident 2021 will see more stability and growth opportunities.

How will the industry deliver net-zero?

There’s no single panacea. It’s a combination of leveraging the transferable skills, investment, policy and aligning buyer behaviour with intent. As a sector we need to proactively engage with the wider society, as the oil and gas sector needs to be a partner in developing and delivering the solutions needed to meet the climate change goals.

CEO David Clark takes Energy Focus behind the scenes at Vysus Group