The Gloucester-based company has been awarded a Queen’s Award for Innovation to celebrate the creation and success of ContraFlame MS400, its lightweight insulation and fire protection product for the underdeck of an oil platform.

Despite the recent recovery, the need for cost savings in the oil and gas industry is well-documented due to the faltering oil prices of recent years.

Philip Watson, Topside Sales Director at Advanced Insulation, commented: “Our Lightweight MS400 Insulation and Fire Protection System has provided significant weights savings on all the recent mega Oil & Gas Projects that have been built in Korea, which has enabled Oil & Gas Operators to gain huge monetary savings to their projects.

“On average the MS400 System has saved each project in excess of 100 tonnes of topside weight and these were prominent design factors which have steered Oil & Gas Operators to our conclusion, that ContraFlame MS400 is the external Passive Fire Protection to use.

“With the big increase in the requirement to insulate and fire proof the cellar decks of offshore Oil & Gas platforms, which are being located in extremely harsh environmental locations around the world, Oil & Gas Operators are requiring a much more robust system that can deal with wave slam and wind loads to the cellar deck coupled with winter temperatures down to -44°C.

“Operators were also experiencing considerable design, construction and installation difficulties in the development of what they termed a ‘fit and forget’ external under deck Passive Fire Protection system for a 40-year platform life, which is why they now specify the ContraFlame MS400 System”.

Chris O’Leary, Production Manager at Advanced Insulation, commented: “ContraFlame MS400 is formulated, designed and manufactured here in Gloucester before being sent out to clients worldwide. When I started at the company in 2012, we were making 52 panels a year of around three-square metres each. That’s risen through the last few years to over 9,000m2 per year.”

To cope with this demand, Advanced Insulation acquired an entirely new manufacturing facility just around the corner from its existing premises in Quedgeley.

Andrew Bennion, Managing Director at Advanced Insulation, added: “To reach the milestone of five Queen’s Awards is tangible recognition for the many members of Advanced Insulation who each contributed to this achievement in their own individual way. Having worked our way up from a company of just 30 employees in 2008 to over 300 in 2018, I’m delighted that the company’s innovations continue to make an impact worldwide as we continue to diversify into new and exciting markets.”

Richard Graham, Conservative MP for Gloucester added, “British innovation is driving our growth in exports and jobs and Advanced Insulation’s contribution to both the Gloucester and our national story is a shining example of that.”