The Ardersier Yard covered an area 325 hectares, with 180 hectares developed and 6 hectares of covered fabrication facilities. The main buildings and facilities required to support the construction of offshore platforms were largely established during the early to mid-1970’s, with many of the Yard’s features and layout being based upon McDermott home facilities in Louisiana. In the mid-1980’s The Yard underwent a major modernisation programme which included new building works and the inclusion automated equipment for key activities such as cutting, welding and material handling. This programme represented a significant investment at the time with the objective being lower costs, increase capacity, improve quality and speed up delivery times. Further upgrades to the facilities continued over the next decade, including the addition of a spool base in 1994 for assembly of small diameter sub-sea pipe lines.
