1 July 2025 Sucess Stories
EIC Survive & Thrive 2025
EIC Survive & Thrive 2025
1 July 2025 41 Success Stories
Story type #service & solutions (main category) #collaboration
Benefits
Bureau Veritas (UK & Ireland) An independent audit service for the energy industry Gemma Reid Audit Services Manager
How is Bureau Veritas (UK & Ireland) thriving? Bureau Veritas developed a strong audit service for the energy sector, which has grown to a thriving business line with expanding capabilities. Under Audit Services Manager Gemma Reid, appointed in May 2023, the company shifted from reactive services to proactive business development. As a result, revenue almost doubled in 2024 and is set to do the same in 2025. This growth stems from a strategic focus on bespoke audits, tailored to clients’ needs and focus areas, for development and improvement, taking into consideration many of the issues affecting the industry in today. These issues and challenges include skills shortages, legislation changes, management of change, and capturing of best practices internally, externally, and globally. Other considerations include Process Safety, Competency, and Supplier Management. The challenge was clear – a gap existed for independent, high-quality audit services, as the sector rapidly matured. End of life asset portfolios in the basin also created more risk and more legislation for critical processes. With a general reduction in dedicated industry head count due to an ageing workforce, a lack of trade focused skills being obtained by school leavers to enter the industry, and offshore assets reaching end of life or being repurposed into new energies, clients found it challenging to ensure they had adequate knowledge, training and competency to allow for high-quality audits to be conducted. Additionally, in 2023, as the world emerged from COVID-19, the post-pandemic energy transition accelerated regulatory changes, requiring innovative approaches to safety and compliance.
on exceptional service delivery, developing an independent, customised scalable audit service model. Throughout 2024, the company collaborated with clients to create a client-specific auditing programme. The primary aim was to enable long-term, solution-based benefits for clients. Bureau Veritas achieved this by providing mentorship as a core value. A key shift was made from service provider to collaborator. This required addressing internal challenges in consistency, planning and time management while ensuring cost-effectiveness in an industry facing economic pressures. The company developed tailored audit products focusing on process safety leadership, moving beyond comprehensive audits to offer focused options. By emphasising engagement with process owners, Bureau Veritas ensured audits drove meaningful improvement through stakeholder buy-in. Flexibility has become a hallmark, with the company offering lighttouch to in-depth examinations tailored to clients’ needs. This versatility has proven valuable across the diverse energy sector. Alongside this, the team structure expanded significantly to drive efficiencies. Clear roles and responsibilities were established, with Reid personally involved in all opening and closing meetings to ensure consistency. Currently, ten additional staff members deliver audits, with further recruitment planned to meet growing demand. Services expanded to include supplier audits, onshore and offshore operational audits, control of work assessments, CDM audits and emergency response evaluations. Here, the company has leveraged expertise from across the global to fulfil any audit request, while planning specialised training such as wind farm audits to further expand capabilities.
Each client comes to Bureau Veritas with specific needs. Through creating a partnership, Bureau Veritas has increased the bespoke, independent auditing scope. This ensures client process safety leadership has become a fundamental industry absolute, as companies realised they couldn’t self-audit and still ensure rigour for critical processes.
These activities have transformed the audit service into a proactive business line. The team now provides audit services and mentors client staff to improve their skills, helping organisations become audit-ready and fostering longer-term partnerships. Through mentoring and supporting new and inexperienced internal auditors, Bureau Veritas helps its clients retain personnel, increase their competency and skill set, enabling a high-quality service from both parties as a long-term solution.
The solution - Bureau Veritas began focusing
The client base is set to expand significantly,
▸ Bureau Veritas developed customised, scalable audits to meet client needs. They offered tailored options, from light to indepth, aligned with client requirements. This versatility proved valuable across energy, enabling bespoke solutions. ▸ Bureau Veritas shifted to a collaborative model, with mentorship as a core value. They helped clients retain staff, increase competency, and become audit-ready. This enabled high-quality service, serving as a short-term fix and long-term solution. Through mentorship, Bureau Veritas fostered partnerships and built the client’s internal audit capabilities.
Key findings For young people ▸ Learn everything you can, take every opportunity that’s offered, and undergo training available. When you find something that really captures your interest and that you can feel passionate about – go for it. For industry ▸ Collaborate, communicate and cooperate. Success comes from teamwork, mentorship and shared knowledge. For government ▸ The UK and global energy sector faces united challenges. Stakeholders must consider the broader, interconnected impact on the industry.
Bureau Veritas (UK & I) at a glance: Key products and services: testing, inspection and certification services. Main industries served: ▸ Oil and gas – 60% ▸ Nuclear power – 15% ▸ Onshore renewable energy – 10% ▸ Offshore renewable energy – 5% ▸ Energy storage – 3% ▸ Hydrogen – 2% ▸ Carbon capture – 2% ▸ Others (energy) – 3% Headquarters: Paris, Frances Year established: 1828 Number of employees: 84,000 Revenue: £5.3bn
attracting the attention of energy sector leaders. This has created cross-sectoral growth opportunities, particularly in renewables. With GWO wind turbine audits on the horizon and a strong pipeline for 2026 and beyond, Bureau Veritas has established itself as a key independent audit services provider.