Where we work
Deep expertise across critical infrastructure.
We understand the disciplines, tickets and compliance that each sector demands — so the people we put forward are ready to deliver.
Why it matters
Critical infrastructure isn’t one labour market.
It’s eleven overlapping ones, each with its own competence regime, funding cycle and working definition of “qualified”. Treating them as interchangeable is how a shortlist arrives full of people who cannot get through the gate.
Competence is gated, not claimed
A COMAH establishment, an offshore installation and a nuclear licensed site each control access by scheme — CompEx, BOSIET, EUSR, SQEP evidence. A strong CV without the right certification is a candidate who cannot start, however good the interview goes.
Every sector spends on its own clock
AMP periods in water, RIIO price controls in networks, RIS in highways, turnaround windows in chemical, notice to proceed in civils. Demand arrives in waves, and the market is bid up at exactly the point everyone needs the same discipline.
The vocabulary is load-bearing
A completions engineer and a commissioning engineer are not interchangeable. A CQV engineer is not a QA manager. An HV Authorised Person is authorised by a named client, not in general. Briefs written loosely get shortlists to match.
Assurance gets audited
CDM 2015 dutyholder evidence, Nuclear Baseline records, Building Safety Act competence, GMP qualification packs. Clients increasingly have to show their working on who they let on site — which makes the evidence part of the hire, not an afterthought.
The eleven
Choose your sector.
Each page covers what’s driving demand, the roles we typically place, the certification that gates site access, and how our three delivery models apply.
Oil & Gas
Upstream, midstream and downstream projects and turnarounds.
Nuclear
New build, operations and decommissioning programmes.
Renewables
Offshore & onshore wind, solar and storage.
Utilities
Transmission, distribution and network upgrades.
Infrastructure
Major civils, transport and public works.
Power
Generation, grid and interconnector projects.
Water
Treatment, networks and AMP-cycle delivery.
Data Centres
Hyperscale and colocation build & fit-out.
Manufacturing
Process, plant and heavy industry.
Chemical
Petrochemical and process safety-critical work.
What transfers
The capability that crosses sector lines.
Specialism doesn’t mean silos. Some disciplines travel well between markets, and knowing which ones is how we widen a search without lowering the bar — or open a second career for a contractor whose own sector has gone quiet.
Commissioning & completions
L1–L5 in a data hall, mechanical completions offshore, IQ/OQ/PQ in a GMP suite, energisation on a substation. Different vocabulary, same discipline: proving a system works before anyone signs for it.
Planning & project controls
Primavera P6, schedule risk analysis, progress measurement and earned value look broadly the same on an AMP framework, a nuclear new build and a highways scheme — which makes planners some of the most portable people we place.
QA/QC & inspection
Weld inspection, NDT, ITP ownership and lifetime quality records are recognisable whether the governing document is ASME III, a BS EN standard or a client specification. The rigour transfers; the code takes weeks to learn.
HSE & process safety
Permit to work, safe isolation and lock-out, confined space entry, HAZOP and LOPA. The regime changes name between chemical, water and manufacturing sites; the competence sitting behind it does not.
EC&I and high voltage
CompEx in hazardous areas, HV AP and SAP authorisation across networks and campuses, protection and control on power and renewables. This is the scarcest overlap in the market — and where sectors compete hardest for the same people.
Commercial & contract
NEC quantity surveyors, framework commercial managers and IR35-aware contract administration constrain delivery as often as engineering does. A weak early commercial team is expensive long before the first compensation event.
The reverse is just as important. Where experience genuinely doesn’t transfer — a sector-specific safety case, a client authorisation that has to be earned on site, a code of construction somebody has never worked to — we say so rather than send the CV and hope.
Compliance
One standard across all eleven.
The certification changes by sector; the process behind it doesn’t. We check what a role actually requires, evidence it before a candidate reaches your shortlist, hold it against the placement record and flag it before it expires.
- Right to work & IR35
- Document and share-code checks to Home Office guidance, with status determinations and the matching contract chain in place before day one.
- Safety passports
- CCNSG, EUSR SHEA for Power, Gas and Water, National Water Hygiene and MIST — plus the site-specific inductions that sit on top of them.
- Hazardous area
- CompEx EX01–EX12 across electrical, instrumentation and mechanical units for Zone 1 and Zone 2 working.
- Offshore & marine
- BOSIET / FOET with CA-EBS where the travel route requires it, offshore medicals, Vantage POB records and STCW basic safety.
- Wind
- GWO Basic Safety and Basic Technical Training with Advanced Rescue, tracked against the two-year refresh cycle rather than chased after it lapses.
- Construction & site
- CSCS, CPCS, ECS cards at the correct grade, with SMSTS and SSSTS for supervisory and management appointments.
- Electrical & HV
- BS 7671 18th Edition, inspection and testing qualifications, client-specific HV AP / SAP authorisation and competence evidence under EAWR 1989.
- Nuclear & defence
- BPSS and CTC screening, SC and DV clearance status, dose record continuity and SQEP evidence mapped to the role's competence requirements.
- Rail & streetworks
- Sentinel sponsorship and Personal Track Safety for the operational railway; NRSWA operative and supervisor units for works in the highway.
- Process safety
- IEC 61511 and 61508 functional safety competence, and demonstrable HAZOP and LOPA study leadership rather than attendance.
- Life sciences
- EU GMP and MHRA exposure, revised Annex 1 experience, GAMP 5 and 21 CFR Part 11 for validation and CSV roles, ISO 14644 for cleanrooms.
- Medicals & surveillance
- Offshore and site medicals, drug and alcohol screening and role-specific health surveillance arranged and evidenced before mobilisation.
These are the competences, cards and clearances we verify and expiry-track on the people we place. They are held by individual candidates and awarded by the relevant scheme bodies — they are not accreditations held by NE Project Solutions. See how our vetting works.
Breadth without dilution.
Eleven sectors, three delivery models, one consistent standard of vetting and mobilisation.
- 11
- Sectors resourced and delivered across
- 48h
- Target time to a curated shortlist on contract disciplines
- 100%
- Placements tracked against a compliance record
Ready when you are
Not sure which sector your scope sits in?
Plenty of work straddles two — a CCS tie-back that is part oil and gas and part power, a data centre whose critical path is a grid connection, a gigafactory that resources like process manufacturing. Describe the scope and we’ll tell you which market you are actually hiring from, and whether the timeline is realistic.