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Lamprell was going through a tumultuous time when Ian Prescott entered the scene in mid-2023.
Six months earlier, the energy services company had been taken private by a group of investors and delisted from the London Stock Exchange. The investors introduced a new board of directors, along with Prescott as CEO, who in turn brought in a new management team.
Thrust into a quickly changing environment, it was up to Prescott and his team to ensure that the company’s decades of success in construction for oil, gas and renewables did not come to an untimely end.
“Our task was to basically turn around and revitalize the company,” Prescott tells The CEO Magazine.
“I tend to run toward challenges as opposed to running away from them, and I saw a fantastic opportunity to take this company back to its former glory and better still.”
It was a worthy challenge for both the seasoned business leader and the nearly 50-year-old company.
Lamprell boasted a slew of illustrious past projects for both the offshore wind and oil and gas sectors. In offshore wind, the delivery of multi-purpose vessels and the construction of hundreds of wind turbine foundation structures stood out.
“I’d seen that Lamprell had fallen on hard times and that there were challenges,” Prescott says. “I’m very much someone who’s driven by a challenge. I tend to run toward challenges as opposed to running away from them, and I saw a fantastic opportunity to take this company back to its former glory and better still.”
Since then, Lamprell has built on its reputation for building and refurbishing jackup drilling rigs and constructing offshore platforms and modules. In addition, it is a joint venture partner in the King Salman International Maritime Industries complex in Saudi Arabia and is one of only 10 contractors selected to deliver projects for Aramco’s Offshore Long-Term Agreement program.
Prescott started his career as an apprentice instrument technician at Shell in the United Kingdom. At the end of his four-year apprenticeship, the company decided to sponsor his university education.
“I was very fortunate that Shell saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself, and they pushed me to go to university,” he says.
Following graduation, he continued his career with Shell. The 14 years he spent with the company gave him a solid grounding in leadership and management and taught him what it was to be a good global citizen.
This training launched Prescott into a succession of management and board positions at leading energy firms, such as McDermott International, SNC Lavalin Singapore, Global Process Systems and Aker Kvaerner Australia.
“I’ve worked all over the world with different cultures, being on boards with different nationalities, which has been an amazing experience,” he says.
But he still credits his days as an apprentice for some of the most valuable lessons he brings to his current assignment.
“The things I learned as an apprentice, working with my hands on the tools, interacting with people – I’ve been very fortunate that I can interact with people in a fabrication facility, in a workshop or in a boardroom.”
The ability to connect with people throughout the organization is key to Prescott’s revitalization strategy for Lamprell.
After joining the company, he and a group of key employees developed a new strategy for Lamprell focusing on energy, including oil and gas, as well as renewables. In order to implement that strategy, he first had to address the morale of the staff, who had endured the turmoil of the company’s preceding years.
“Our people are, without doubt, our biggest differentiator,” Prescott says. “It was important to get all of our employees aligned and effectively informed on what our vision for the company was, what our strategy is and how we plan to implement that strategy.”
“Our people are, without doubt, our biggest differentiator.”
He organized a series of town hall meetings aimed at getting everyone ‘on the bus’ – a concept popularized by the book, Good to Great, by management consultant James C Collins.
In addition to rallying staff around Lamprell’s new strategy, Prescott and his team have also worked to strengthen relationships with key partners and suppliers, such as the engineering firm Saudi Wells Technology and umbilical cable manufacturer MFX do Brasil.
“We work with our supplier base during the bidding phase of projects to optimize technical solutions, deliveries and the cost for our customers as well,” Prescott says.
“Now that we have got everybody on our bus, and everybody aligned with the vision and strategy, we can channel our vast experience towards delivering for our clients and their projects.”
With staff firmly on board, Prescott is planning to charge ahead with an ambitious goal: to turn Lamprell back into a billion-dollar company. This will entail hiring thousands of additional team members and expanding the company’s footprint geographically.
That work is already underway, with Lamprell’s major facilities in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates preparing to take on new staff and projects.
“We’ve got a robust revenue pipeline, so there’s huge potential for growth,” Prescott says.
The growth will also be bolstered by three smaller Lamprell businesses focusing on safety equipment and services; labor supply; and onshore engineering, procuring and construction.
“We’ve got very clear goals for those businesses, where we plan to expand them beyond the United Arab Emirates across the Gulf,” Prescott says.
Along with this growth will come new investment into innovation, including digital solutions.
“We’re upgrading all of our IT systems with the eventual goal of expanding into AI and digitization as well.”
These upgrades, in addition to boosting productivity, will also yield to the environment, as well as to health and safety at Lamprell. The company recycles 95 percent of its waste, which would otherwise go to landfill, and there are plans to install solar panels in its facilities.
“We’re very focused on what else we can do for the environment,” Prescott says, adding that the company is aligned with 13 of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals.
“Lamprell is stronger than ever.”
Lamprell also boasts an exemplary health and safety record.
“Our total recordable incident rate is 0.08, which is absolutely world-class. It stands out among our peers and our clients,” he says.
This goes a long way toward explaining why Lamprell has around 1,000 staff who have been with the company for 15 years or longer.
“Our company has very much got a family feel to it. There is a lot of camaraderie, great employee morale these days, and the culture within the company is staggering,” Prescott says.
“But that isn’t just down to me, by the way. That’s our whole team. We’ve worked closely together on a common goal to really turn the company around, and I’m very pleased and proud to say we’ve achieved a lot in that regard.
“Our clients are showing faith in us in awarding us new business, and we’re delivering projects successfully for them. Lamprell is stronger than ever.”
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