UK Business Blog

Aberdeen is the heart of the European oil and gas industry, and an international hub for companies in the field. As such it attracts large numbers of oil company workers from rig engineers to multi-millionaire owners, from Houston Texas to Stavanger Norway.

Due to the high volume of international trade and business travellers working in Aberdeen for longer stays, the serviced apartment sector is thriving, with operators such as The Spires, Dreamhouse, Micasa, Oakhill Aspect, Craibstone and Parkhill all offering home from home serviced apartments for less cost than a traditional hotel.

Aberdeen manages to maintain a friendly and fun atmosphere despite the challenges of deep-seated economic inequities. “Millionaires’ Row” aka Queens Road pushes up property prices beyond the reach of many locals, and the owners of very expensive cars rub shoulders with rig workers and fishermen. Perhaps the fact that there is almost no unemployment is a crucial factor, and a very good illustration of how the super-rich can rub along perfectly well with ordinary folk when it is clear that there is opportunity for all.

Amongst several accolades and claims, Aberdeen boasts the 2^nd largest heliport in the world and has won Britain in Bloom a record-breaking 10 times.

In March 2004 Aberdeen was awarded Fairtrade City status by the Fairtrade Foundation, and this was a catalyst for the city’s concerted effort to transform its reputation as the Oil Capital of Europe into the Energy Capital of Europe. As a reflection of the established and the new guard, the city hosts both an annual Oil Barons’ Ball and the UK’s largest renewables event in the UK. Many traditional oil companies have diversified into wind and wave power, which has helped the UK to establish itself as the world’s biggest offshore wind market. British industries from boat-building to concrete, and electric cabling to gearbox manufacturing are hoping to benefit from the construction of thousands of offshore wind turbines, if new plans go ahead.

A group representing the UK’s offshore wind industry on Monday (6^th Feb) adopted a target of ensuring that more than half of the supply chain for offshore windfarms is sourced from the UK. At present, less than a third of the value of the goods and services needed to construct offshore wind farms actually originates in the UK.

Guest post by Chris Gee, Sales Director SilverDoor

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Geography

The UK is only a small nation, but it has a lot to offer. From beautiful mountain ranges, national parks and quaint countryside, to glorious beaches in the summertime, which rival anything that California has to offer (well, maybe?) Some things you may not know about the towns and landscape:

• Great Britain is a political term referring to the three nations on the island – England, Scotland and Wales; the phrase is often incorrectly used instead of United Kingdom (UK) which refers to Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Be careful not to blur the boundaries of UK/Britain/England. Some people can be quite sensitive to being presumed ‘English’ when they are in fact British.

• The Lake District in the North of England has many scenic views and pockets of water. However, it is not widely known that there is only one official lake, Bassenthwaite, the other ‘lakes’ are officially classified waters, tarns, reservoirs or meres.  Either way, bring a boat if you want to explore them.

• If you want an escape on this small isle, the deepest cave in the UK is Ogof Ffynnon Ddu in Powys, Wales, which is 308 m (1,010 ft) deep. It may be difficult to pronounce but it’s probably much easier to fall down it than climb the highest mountain, Ben Nevis, in Scotland at 1,343m (4,406 ft).

• Even more difficult to roll off the tongue is a town in Wales, which is called Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (we’re working on a nickname). Britain is known for having long place names, the city with the shortest name is Ely.
  

  Oh, well now they've broken it down for me, it is much easier to say...

• Size-wise, Great Britain has an area that is 243,820 km². That is smaller than the US state Oregon (255,026 km²) and could fit into Australia (7,617,930 km²) more than 30 times. Think how many times over we’d fit into Russia (17,098,242 km²)!

 Katie Jamieson

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