Hear from Steven Mackay, MD Critical Infrastructure – Facility video
CRC Evans, the leading welding and coating specialist for energy and infrastructure projects, has announced a major European facility investment that will drive future international growth.
The new state of the art 90,000 sq ft facility in Burnley will be one of the largest end-to-end specialty welding, coating and engineering hubs of its kind in EMEA.
Strategically located in the North West of England, the new supersite will drive a new phase of international growth across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and South America.
The Centre of Excellence will position Europe as a central platform within the CRC Evans international operating model, as it meets demand across conventional gas markets and accelerates diversification into nuclear, defence, aerospace, renewables and critical infrastructure. The new site will also provide a headquarters for CRC Evans’ Critical Infrastructure Division.
Mauro Piasere, CEO at CRC Evans, said:
“This investment marks a decisive step in delivering our global growth strategy. Building on this momentum, our new Burnley development will double our operational footprint, strengthen our leadership in specialty welding and coating, and establish a European Centre of Excellence equipped to support the most demanding infrastructure markets worldwide.”
“Burnley has been part of our European story since 1988. Today, it becomes a critical platform for international expansion, responding to growth in our core markets and enabling diversification into nuclear, renewables and critical infrastructure.”
By consolidating advanced manufacturing, engineering, compliance-led operations and digital systems integration within a single purpose-built environment, the facility creates a scalable platform to deliver consistent, high-integrity solutions across both legacy and emerging energy and infrastructure sectors.
The new site has been designed to meet the most demanding industry and regulatory standards, incorporating contamination-controlled workflows and strict material segregation. These capabilities are essential in nuclear and other highly regulated environments, where supplier selection depends on proven performance, traceability and tightly controlled manufacturing conditions.
New EMEAA Centre of Excellence at 90,000 sq ft takes shape
Steven Mackay, Managing Director for the Critical Infrastructure Division, added:
“The scale and capability of Burnley significantly strengthens our position in regulated infrastructure markets such as nuclear, defence and aerospace. These sectors demand absolute assurance around compliance, traceability and operational control.
“This investment creates the operational foundation to support sustained growth in critical infrastructure markets while providing our global clients with the highest standards of specialty welding and coating expertise.”
The facility also strengthens CRC Evans’ ability to integrate advanced welding and coating technologies with digital assurance systems, including its proprietary cloud-based Data 360 platform.
By embedding digital traceability, quality assurance and performance visibility into operational workflows, the Burnley Centre of Excellence enhances data integrity and client confidence across complex and regulated environments. The site will serve as a development and deployment hub for next-generation automation and specialty welding and coating technologies across CRC Evans’ global operations.
Backed by more than 90 years of technical expertise, CRC Evans continues to expand its international presence in response to evolving energy and infrastructure demands. Operating in more than 100 countries, the company supports complex onshore and offshore projects worldwide, delivering high-performance specialty welding and coating solutions across oil and gas, renewables, nuclear, hydrogen, carbon capture and critical infrastructure.
As part of its long-term commitment to deep technical expertise and globally local delivery, the Burnley expansion also strengthens CRC Evans’ cross geography investment in skills development and workforce capability.
CRC Evans, the leading welding and coating specialist for energy and infrastructure projects, has secured $37m in new global contracts in January 2026, marking a record month for the company.
The contract wins highlight the continued momentum of CRC Evans’ growth strategy that has seen significant investment in the sector and technological diversification, while also growing its global footprint through international expansion.
The awards also reinforce CRC Evans’ position as a trusted, collaborative partner for leading energy and infrastructure providers throughout the globe.
Mauro Piasere, CEO at CRC Evans, said: “These latest wins bring great momentum to our growth strategy for 2026.
“We are planning to continue to explore new M&A opportunities to expand our footprint and expertise. Our current global footprint covers every continent and every energy environment, from offshore platforms to remote deserts, from deep water to dense urban grids. We go wherever complexity demands.”
CRC has been delivering high-integrity welding and coatings solutions for more than 90 years.
The company now operates a global business across North and South America, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Europe, supporting and enabling energy and critical infrastructure projects, whilst meeting the Gold Standard in HSE and Governance.
A key example of this is the successful completion of the first phase of the Ruya project in the Middle East for COOEC, which has seen CRC Evans completing 11,000 welds with the lowest repair rate in the industry and enabling early completion on the project, which is delivering critical infrastructure for Qatar.
CRC Evans has deep experience in traditional energy markets, and its quality, delivery and expertise have spread into adjacent sectors as it remains focused on delivering the benchmark service in terms of project integrity, performance and safety. Further sector diversification will bring international expansion and new growth.
Looking ahead, CRC Evans is combining field-based engineering expertise with continued investment in proprietary technologies and innovation. This includes AI-driven welding and coating engineering, enabling fit-for-purpose design and engineering of conventional and energy transition assets, as well as real-time assessment of welding and coating field operations essential to improve performance and deliver data for asset integrity monitoring for energy partners.
As part of its global growth strategy, CRC Evans is set to announce a major investment to strengthen its energy and industrial capabilities. The investment will establish a next-generation supersite in the Northwest of the UK, set to be one of the largest of its kind globally, and a Centre of Excellence for end-to-end specialty welding and coating.
Mauro Piasere said: “We now have the largest fleet of specialist equipment in the industry. We don’t just show up, we adapt, innovate and deliver certainty when it matters most.
“Ultimately our strategy and purpose are enabling us to stand alongside the world’s leading energy and infrastructure providers to develop the solutions that will enable the delivery of future energy and infrastructure projects.”
CRC Evans is backed by specialist private equity firm Bluewater and works hand in hand with the management team at CRC Evans to enable their sector and international growth plans. CEO, Mauro Piasere, has a strong, well-respected team behind him, led by Ben MacKay and Chris Sanne, with the board chaired by Luis Araujo.
The leadership team remains focused over the next 12-18 months on delivering rapid growth, through best-in-class delivery, leading technology development and exploring M&A opportunities.
CRC Evans, a leader in welding, technology, and coating services, has launched a new digital platform that revolutionises data management for welding, coating, and inspection for customers in the energy and infrastructure sectors.
The newly developed platform incorporates cutting-edge digital technologies, providing expedited access to production data, improved analytical capabilities, and precise data tagging. This reduces downtime and minimizes the number of inspection personnel required to extract, transform, and analyse data. Additionally, the platform serves as a data repository of as-built documentation for customer infrastructure, with data curated and ready to use for compliance needs.
The DATA360 platform enables real-time monitoring of production activities during welding, coating, and inspection. Platform utilises long-range Wi-Fi communication, which allows for the wireless downloading of logs from all stations and evaluates the status of joints based on the parameters established during the qualification process.
Shailesh Radhakrishnan (VP, Engineering & Technology) of CRC Evans Said: “By staying ahead of technology trends and market shifts, we ensure that our offerings remain competitive and deliver innovation and operational efficiency. With 90 years of expertise, we remain committed to adapting and diversifying to ensure long-term value and sustainable growth.”
Vinay Baburao (Director, Digital Transformation) of CRC Evans said: “We are committed to developing advanced digital products and solutions like DATA360 to meet the evolving needs of our clients. Leveraging DATA360 allows users to streamline operations, enhance decision-making, and boost overall business performance.”
CRC Evans’ DATA360 provides a solution to tag, collect, transform, visualise, and generate customized reports for the production data generated from each of CRC Evans’ products in a project within a few minutes, compared to the traditional methods, which can take hours each day.
DATA360 uses tested and proven technologies to tag every joint with a unique ID and GPS location where possible to provide customers with maximum insights into their infrastructure. An AI-powered clustering algorithm further defines joint locations from GPS data.
The tagging mechanisms enhance overall operations, data management, and accuracy. They will also aid in visualizing data across multiple hierarchies, including per weld, per pass, per station, and zone.
DATA360 collects all the critical parameters for welding, coating, and inspection, including arc voltage, current, and heat input, alongside coating metrics and inspection results
Through the DATA360 cloud, customers can access tailored production data anytime, anywhere, without additional time for data processing.
CRC Evans (CRCE), a leader in welding, welding technology, and coating services, has appointed Chris Sanne as its Chief Financial Officer (CFO), a further strengthening of its senior team amidst ongoing growth.
As part of the CRC Evans’ executive team, Chris has been appointed to the organisation’s board and is responsible for the group’s financial management.
Chris is joining CRC Evans from Weatherford, where his most recent role was Senior Director of the Scandinavia Operation. His prior roles in Weatherford included Finance Director for Europe & Africa based in Aberdeen and Global Segment Controller based in Dubai.
Having worked in the Energy Services Industry for over 10 years and lived in multiple different countries across the world, Chris brings his experience as a Senior Financial Leader, accumulated by roles spanning from Corporate Finance to Commercial & Business Performance. Chris holds a B.A. in Business Administration from Pacific Lutheran University and an Executive MBA from INSEAD.
Fréderic Castrec, Chief Executive Officer at CRC Evans, said: “As CRCE continues its drive for further growth, the appointment of Chris marks a key step forward in working towards our strategic goals and development of the finance function. His role will be integral to our progress as a company as we set our sights on further expansion.”
Mr Sanne said: “I am pleased to be joining CRC Evans at what is a pivotal point in its journey. This is an exciting period for the company, and I look forward to working closely with my new colleagues as we continue to target growth through targeted development.”
CRC Evans has successfully completed work on a hydrogen pipeline in Europe, further enhancing the Group’s expertise in this new area of pipeline welding.
Located in Romania’s Black Sea Podisor region, the pipeline spans over 50km and includes both 40-inch and 48-inch pipeline diameters. At 12.5mm wall thickness, the 40-inch diameter section required 2,800 mainline welds, and at 14.2mm wall thickness, the 48-inch diameter section required 2,300 mainline welds. The pipeline, which was initially intended to transport natural gas, was redesigned to be constructed as ‘hydrogen ready’ in a move to support lifetime extension and future use.
One of the key challenges with hydrogen pipeline welding is weld procedure qualification, an operation carried out to test the proposed parameters to ensure the integrity of a weld. Pipeline welding involves multiple variables, such as current, voltage, travel speed, pipe thickness, weld position and temperature, where each variable is an influencing factor. Delivering the ideal values for these variables is necessary to ensure optimum weld quality and that the weld can meet the intended application.
To meet hardness and quality requirements CRC Evans’ welding and metallurgy experts conduct a combination of different welding processes using the same welding system, to support the development of a procedure that is applicable to all environments. An additional challenge when dealing with hydrogen is that it has very small atoms that can permeate the steel microstructure and increase the risk of stress corrosion. Ensuring low steel hardness can improve operational outcomes by combatting embrittlement and the enhanced risk of pipeline steel cracking. This requires experienced technicians with a deep understanding of materials.
On this project in Romania, CRC Evans worked closely with our customer to understand the requirements of the infrastructure and provided an innovative solution based on the modification of an established approach. This allowed the company to deliver a reliable welding procedure utilising its mechanised P625 dual torch welding system, where the resultant qualified parameters were able to meet the specific project requirements. The speed and effectiveness of this solution can be directly attributed to the company’s broad expertise spanning 90-years of pipeline delivery for its energy and wider infrastructures customers.
CRC Evans Strategic Growth Director, Leon Dashwood said “Governments around the world are setting out hydrogen strategies to support decarbonisation goals and plans for targeted investment across industrial, transportation and energy sectors. Hydrogen is becoming increasingly important in the drive to reduce global emissions.
“Part of this transition will be the delivery of vital new infrastructure to support the manufacture, storage, and transportation of hydrogen, ensuring its safe and reliable delivery. As trusted infrastructure specialists, CRC Evans has the experience and capability to become a key partner in the hydrogen market.”
CRC Evans has appointed Brett Planzer as the new Head of Field Joint Coating Projects and Services, for its Americas Onshore business.
Brett, whose expertise in coating technical service and supply has been previously utilised by the CRC Evans Americas Onshore team, will provide much needed leadership in a key growth area of our business. With an extensive knowledge of our equipment and epoxies and thorough understanding of current industry practices, as well as a strong background in driving quality assurance initiatives and improvements that benefit overall project performance, Brett’s wealth of experience will help to ensure that our customers have access to best-in-class advice and service capability.
Roger Spee, President of CRC Evans’ Americas Onshore business said: “Brett’s appointment brings an enormous advantage to our business. With his deep understanding of the field joint coating market Brett can support CRC Evans Americas Onshore to enhance our pipelines offering, working with existing customers while actively pursuing opportunities in markets that are outside of our current scope.
“I am delighted to welcome Brett to the team and look forward to working closely with him over the coming year. His industry knowledge and experience will be vital to our near and long-term business objectives.”
Commenting on his role, Brett said “I am excited to be taking on this role at CRC Evans at such an important time for the business. CRC Evans is a company with exceptional in-house capabilities, and a reputation for delivering safe and effective solutions for its customers.”
“I look forward to working closely with Roger and the team to extend CRC Evans already impressive service offering and delivering a truly integrated solutions package for customers in the region.”
CRC Evans is a market leader in the provision of welding and coating services, technologies and high-performance equipment for the global energy and wider infrastructure sectors.
CRC Evans, a leader in the provision of welding and coating services, technologies and high-performance solutions, has appointed Robbert Reddering as Sales Manager for our Americas Offshore business.
Robbert’s appointment supports a move to strengthen the company’s position in the Americas energy and wider infrastructure markets, renewing focus on CRC Evans’ welding fabrication and custom coating capability and actively pursuing opportunities outside of the company’ core market to drive growth. Robbert’s wealth of knowledge and experience, and successful track record from over 15-years in various operational and business development roles, will help to broaden CRC Evans’ customer base across the region.
Tony Pontefract, President for Americas Offshore, said: “CRC Evans is a market leader in the Americas region, and our team in Katy is delighted to welcome Robbert onboard to support our core pipelines welding and coating business as well as the growth of our integrated fabrication and custom coating service, which offers significant growth opportunities for our business.
“He will also be key to our diversification efforts, helping to grow our presence in offshore wind, LNG, hydrogen and carbon capture. CRC Evans’ pioneering solutions can be adapted to meet the needs of customers across the renewables and infrastructure sectors, to help solve industry challenges.”
Commenting on his appointment, Robbert, said: “This is an exciting time to join the CRC Evans business. There is significant potential in wider energy and infrastructure markets, where focus on our strong heritage, and welding and coating expertise, can steer the business towards new growth opportunities.
“I look forward to sharing CRC Evans’ solid reputation and track record with new customers in the company’s target markets.”
CRC Evans is pleased to announce that it has signed an agreement for the Sale of its Quantive Group inspection business, for an undisclosed sum, with completion expected to formally take place in January.
Proceeds from the divestment significantly enhance CRC Evans’ capital position, which will support the company’s growth and strengthen focus on its core welding and coating service delivery. The move is aligned with the Group’s overall strategy and reinforces CRC Evans’ commitment to becoming the preferred partner for the evolving global energy and wider infrastructure sectors.
For the buyer, the acquisition of Quantive Group helps to consolidate its standing in the inspection market. Both companies are market leaders with complementary core competencies and customer-centric approach with a strong foundation in operational excellence and safety, which will help to ensure a seamless transition and uninterrupted service and support for clients.
The Transaction comprises the Sale by CRC Evans of its shareholdings in the Quantive Group LLC, together with associated subsidiaries.
CRC Evans has strengthened its commitment to the Americas region with the appointment of Kyle Barnard as Commercial Development Manager, based in our Houston office. Kyle joins CRC Evans at a pivotal time, as the company, as it expands the delivery of its market-leading welding and coating solutions across four key sectors: oil and gas; renewables; nuclear and infrastructure.
Kyle’s appointment supports CRC Evans’ drive to strengthen its market position in North and South America, whilst continuing to support the global delivery of vital energy infrastructure. Kyle has been instrumental to the successful execution of various major pipeline and renewable energy projects across North America, and brings a wealth of experience and knowledge from more than 11 years in the energy industry,
Roger Spee, President for CRC Evans’ Americas Onshore business said: “CRC Evans is recognised as a market leader in the delivery of onshore pipelines across North and South America and has the experience and knowledge to support new markets such as renewables, where there are significant growth opportunities for our business.
“Kyle will work alongside a passionate and highly skilled team where he will play a key role in growing our presence in our core markets, whilst leveraging our strengths and capabilities across these new sectors. I look forward to working with Kyle as we enhance our delivery for customers in the region.”
Commenting on his appointment, Kyle, said: “This is a very exciting time to join the CRC Evans business. Renowned as a pioneer in the onshore pipelines industry, CRC Evans has the capability to offer innovative solutions within the emerging new energy sector.
“I’m delighted to be part of the company’s growth journey and look forward to building on CRC Evans’ strong reputation and track record by continuing to meet and exceed the needs of our customers.”
CRC Evans, a leading global welding and coating services provider, is pleased to announce that Ole Thomas Ustad has joined our team in Brazil as Vice President, Projects for our offshore Latin America business. Ole joins at a pivotal moment for the company, as it continues a period of accelerated growth and development across four key sectors: oil and gas; renewables; nuclear and infrastructure.
In his new role, Ole will lead the execution of projects, working closely with senior and regional management teams to ensure that the expected standards of excellence are met and exceeded. With a wealth of international industry experience, including more than twenty years’ direct experience in the coating sector, Ole’s leadership will to leverage CRC Evans existing position as a leading provider of coating solutions in the region, and expand delivery to include new custom coating and welding services opportunities.
Frank Grillo, Region Director in Brazil, said: “We are delighted that Ole is joining as our new Vice President for Projects. Ole will not only support the rapid growth of our business as we bring new products and services to the region, but his broad industry knowledge will help to drive innovative solutions that can meet the needs of our customers.
“I look forward to working closely with Ole to bring CRC Evans’ full suite of welding and coating services, technologies and integrated solutions to the Brazil market.”
Commenting on his appointment Ole said: “I am excited join the team during this dynamic phase for CRC Evans. The current business landscape offers clear opportunity for expansion, and a growing culture of excellence within the organisation will serve as a potent driving force to help the company realise its ambitious expansion goals.
“I look forward to working with Frank and the team to deliver on CRC Evans’ strategy for the region, ensuring that safety, quality and environmental responsibility remain key priorities at all times.”
