Secretary of State for Scotland, Michael Moore MP, today officially opened SSE’s new flagship offices in central Glasgow, 1 Waterloo Street, which will be the home of SSE’s Centre of Engineering Excellence for Renewable Energy.
The new building, acquired by SSE in November 2010, will accommodate much of the development work undertaken by SSE’s renewables business, which includes supporting the multi-billion-pound investment programme for onshore and offshore wind, hydro-electricity, and wave and tidal energy.
SSE established its Centre of Engineering Excellence for Renewable Energy in 2009, with the expectation that over 300 highly-skilled, engineering-based professional jobs would be created by SSE over the next three years. Over 200 SSE employees have already moved into the new building and, with new roles being created, this is expected to grow to around 350 by mid 2012. These individuals will be joined by employees from a number of SSE’s renewable development partners, including Mitsubishi, Siemens, Atkins and Strathclyde University, and ultimately take the total number of people based in the building to over 600.
Speaking at the official opening of 1 Waterloo Street, Colin Hood, Chief Operating Officer at SSE, said: “In this building we are bringing together allies and partners from a variety of organisations, all of whom are committed to creating a genuine centre of excellence in renewable energy, that will complete renewable energy’s journey from the periphery of energy provision to the very heart.
“So we may be opening a building, but we are also marking the opening of a new economic opportunity for Scotland and the UK as a whole.”