Garrad Hassan Joins Germanischer Lloyd
Garrad Hassan (GH), based in Bristol (UK), is joining Germanischer Lloyd (GL) to form a fully integrated technical assurance and consulting company for renewable energy. The companies will merge to become a worldwide leading independent provider of consulting, engineering, turbine design, certification, measurement, project management, strategic advice, inspection services and software products for renewable energies. GH and GL will provide technical services over the entire life cycle of wind, solar, marine and other renewable energies, both onshore and offshore including safety, integrity, reliability and performance management.
“The merger of GH and GL is a reflection of growing demand of customers for a single service provider who offers solutions for challenges in technology, environment and asset performance on a worldwide scale”, said Pekka Paasivaara (left), Member of the Executive Board of GL, at a press conference in Hamburg. “Together, we will offer a unique level of service expertise and global presence across the whole project lifecycle.”
GH and GL will form a business segment dedicated to renewable energy of over 600 staff with highly qualified engineers and technical experts at 34 locations around the world. GL had already acquired the Canadian wind energy consulting and engineering company Hélimax and the German company WINDTEST who are experts on measurements for wind turbines and wind farms. In addition, the offshore wind expertise of Noble Denton particularly in project management for offshore windfarms was added to the GL Group in April 2009.
GL is pursuing a full service approach, with a broad range of consulting services including the optimal design of wind farms, improvement in the performance of existing wind farms, measurement projects (wind resource, wind turbine performance and structural behaviour), inspection and certification of turbines. GH offers comprehensive engineering and consulting together with a large array of software products and turbine design services. Together GH and GL are at the forefront of developing a new greener and more sustainable energy mix for the world.
“GH is delighted to be merging with GL. We have considered many potential partners but we have chosen GL because we share the same values of independence and technical rigour. Both companies have worked for 25 years together and hence know that this combination will be successful. It brings benefits to our clients and employees alike. We are now able to provide an even more comprehensive service offering with access to more engineers and this will enable us to enter developing markets,” explained Andrew Garrad (right), CEO Garrad Hassan, who will be the president of the new combined renewables business.