Building relationships is critical to success

Having celebrated 20 years in business during 2019, eBlast has evolved to become one of the largest specialist coatings and surface preparation businesses in the UK.

With clients in the energy and construction sectors, the start of the year has brought a raft of new orders across all eGroup business units, including eBlast, where we have benefited from increased demand for the protection and service of several, large oil and gas assets.

Our highly-skilled team are leading experts in commercial and industrial coating, painting and surface preparation; all designed to withstand extreme environments, such as offshore.

We have secured new customers in addition to delivering a major project for an existing client, which has led to some extremely positive feedback from that business.

Winning the work is only part of the process, however. We have been fortunate over the past few years to see the relationships we’ve built and developed with other companies continuing to pay dividends.

In my view, this is largely due to the hard work and communication of our team as well as the effort made to strengthen relationships with key contacts across the industry.

This has involved working with customers, including many tier one and tier two contractors, to solve complex problems and support them achieve their delivery dates for large, manufactured structures to the highest possible standard.

We have built positive relationships with national and international suppliers – particularly around safety and quality measures – and, while the north-east remains our primary focus, we are increasingly exploring opportunities to extend our reach throughout other parts of the country.

The past year has seen significant changes across the business, including bringing different teams closer together through greater integration; ultimately, improving the levels of service and communication we provide to our customers.

This was demonstrated recently when we hosted around 40 oil and gas clients and industry experts, on behalf of one of our key suppliers, for an open day and tour of our Kintore facility to mark the launch of a new hydrocarbon fire protection coating system.

eBlast was chosen by the supplier due to our modern facilities, including the new 1,000 sq. metre specialist coatings and powder coating area, large capacity and extensive experience of fire protection application.

It gave our team the opportunity to answer questions around our full suite of specialist coating services, including surface preparation, thermal spray aluminium, passive fire protection and topsides epoxy coating, whilst feedback received from everyone involved was extremely positive

Events like this play an important role in building and developing relationships with key contacts as well as providing a forum for clients to discuss any challenges they may be facing, whilst learning about the latest technology and solutions that can save time and reduce costs.

Neil McDonald

Neil McDonald