Cardiff Marine Services Ltd have started work on the build of a new workshop at Cardiff Marine Village for the company’s rapidly expanding boatyard. The company previously extended the boatyard by acquiring a further acre of land from Cardiff Council. Some of this land is now being used to build a new 100ft x 50ft workshop. The company’s decision to build a larger workshop is in response to the growing demand for additional undercover space to carry out refit and repair work on larger vessels.
Cardiff Marine Services Ltd runs one of the largest boatyards in Wales and is a major insurance repair centre. In addition, they offer services such as Hot Vac osmosis centre, Dek-King Dealer, 3M Gelcare Centre and Approved Awlgrip and International Application Centre. The company’s growing success means it requires additional space to meet the increasing demands of their customer base. The new workshop will enable the company to work on multiple larger boats undercover at one time. This will allow the team to increase throughput, ensure jobs are completed faster and thus improving the productivity and lead times on projects.
Director of Operations, Rob Freemantle, commented “The services we offer to boat owners through our boatyard and refit and repair centre have grown considerably over the past few years and it is important that we can meet the requirements of our customers. This new workshop will enable us to work undercover on several larger boats at once and improve efficiencies, which ultimately means we can get our customers back on the water faster.”
Boatyard Manager, Dave Freemantle added “More often than not, the GRP repairs we carry out need to be in a temperature and humidity controlled environment. This new 5000sqft facility will enable us to work on many more projects at once in these controlled conditions.’
To help advance this project, the company have secured a grant from the Coastal Communities Fund. The fund aims to encourage the economic development of UK coastal communities by awarding funding to create sustainable economic growth and jobs. This expansion, is the latest development in an ongoing programme of investment for The Marine & Property Group, which has recently added Burry Port Marina to its existing marina portfolio which also includes Cardiff, Aberystwyth and Port Dinorwic. Over the past couple of years, the company has also diversified its service offering acquiring a 50t Sealift and a water injection dredger.
Director, Christopher Odling-Smee commented: ‘Building a larger workshop for our boatyard’s refit and repair work is the natural next step for us in our long-term investment programme. Having acquired additional marinas in Wales we need to be able to service more boats and in as timely a manner as possible. This new facility also provides a great base from which to train our staff across our locations and an opportunity to add to our team of highly skilled marine technicians.”
Computer generated image of the workshop currently under construction
