Plans to breathe new life into a redundant fabrication yard and create hundreds of jobs were hanging in the balance last night.
The Port of Ardersier Ltd consortium had been aiming to rival the Nigg operation in Easter Ross and land lucrative renewable energy
But the firm has now been placed in administration – leaving a massive question mark over ambitious proposals to bring back the glory days to the old McDermott’s base and generate 2,500 jobs in the process.
Highland Council gave planning permission in principle last year for the 400-acre site at Whiteness, near Nairn, to become an offshore wind turbine manufacturing base.
But administrators KPMG said the impact of “the economic slowdown and the more recent decline in oil prices” made delivering on the plans for the deepwater facility “extremely challenging”.
Before proposals to revitalise the yard as a fabrication centre were tabled the consortium had unveiled an ambitious 2,000-home project, which included a marina.
Despite the gloom, those involved in the consortium believe there is still room for some optimism.
Port of Ardersier Ltd Chief executive, Captain Steve Gobbi, said: “There is a positive outlook for the purpose of which we first intended, which is certainly the creation of jobs in a port-centric capacity, using the site industrially.
“There are several interested parties looking at being able to achieve that, still.
“We were very well assisted by (development agency) Highlands and Islands Enterprise in getting to where we were.
“Unfortunately, we were not able to get things moving fast enough to satisfy the debt attached to the site.”
While the facility is listed as being worth £4,580,000, debts were inherited from the previous incumbent, Whiteness Properties Ltd.
“There remains plenty of interest in continuing the project as an industrial site,” Capt Gobbi said.
“It would not be unreasonable to realise there has been a slowdown in renewables and that other markets have been delayed, such as decommissioning.
“That, plus the current situation with renewables has created a delay in market opportunity.”
Nairn Provost Laurie Fraser shared a community’s disappointment that the project had run aground.
He said: “I still think that something could come of it.
“Somebody could still step in and rescue the site and convert it to something like oil-related decommissioning because there are all these rigs in the North Sea that need to be decommissioned somewhere.”
At its peak, the McDermott’s yard – which operated between 1972 and 2001 – employed 4,500 people. It has lain empty for 14 years.
Ardersier Port’s proposals had included the construction of a new harbour wall and dredging the deepwater facility.