Outer Dowsing Offshore Wind for the win at the TotalEnergies UK HSSE Awards
The Outer Dowsing Offshore Wind team were honoured and humbled to take home two awards at the TotalEnergies UK HSSE Awards 2026.
Competing against strong competition from across the TotalEnergies UK portfolio, the team were awarded the following accolades, presented at an awards ceremony held in Aberdeen:
- Best Environment Improvement – Winner – Outer Dowsing Offshore Wind Survey Team for reducing vessel time, fuel use and emissions through underwater cone penetration testing methods.
- Best Sustainability Improvement – Runner up – The Outer Dowsing Offshore Wind Consents team for the delivery of a successful examination and DCO.
- TERUK Managing Director’s Award – Winner – Jenny Marsden for her leadership in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths engagement and careers outreach in Lincolnshire.
Congratulations to all the winners and nominees for all the incredible initiatives that were recognised at the awards.
The Survey Team impressed the judges with their innovative design that enabled a hybrid method for offshore geotechnical investigation that brought together deep-push piezo-cone penetration (CPTu) testing with traditional borehole techniques. Given that CPTu testing is twenty times quicker than drilling boreholes, it enabled the use of a smaller vessel, cutting vessel time at sea in half. This design change resulted in reduced fuel usage, ultimately reducing both costs and CO2 emissions. Collaboration was key: a research and development phase allowed the Outer Dowsing team to optimize the outcomes in partnership with the contractor and put the learnings to use as the project progressed. The team’s pioneering spirit was evident in their willingness to adopt non-standard techniques to achieve more efficient and safer ways of working. Their focus on performance was shown through the R&D activities pursued in collaboration with the contractor (GEO-dk).
The ODOW Consents Team were recognised as runners up in the “Best Sustainability Improvement” award for going above and beyond to deliver DCO Examination to industry leading standard.
Jenny Marsden was awarded the TERUK Managing Director Award for her leadership and passion in STEM skills that led to the launch of the Outer Dowsing Energise Workshops in 2025. They have since benefitted over 1250 children across 45 primary schools and 14 secondary schools in the project area of South and East Lincolnshire. Her continued passion and advocacy for careers outreach has encouraged other members of the Outer Dowsing Offshore Wind team to attend over 25 careers fairs, fostering a deeper understanding amongst the team about the local community needs, while also raising career aspirations amongst the school children and increasing their awareness about the offshore wind sector and the Outer Dowsing Offshore Wind Project itself.
Michelle Aitken, HSSE Manager for Outer Dowsing Offshore Wind said, “Congratulations to all the winners and nominees at the TotalEnergies HSSE UK awards 2026. It was great to see so many strong initiatives recognised this year, with some fantastic examples across the portfolio. It meant a lot to see the work being done on Outer Dowsing Offshore Wind being recognised alongside projects from TotalEnergies’ multi-energy UK activities. While we may be working with different technologies, we are all here for the same reason – to meet the UK’s energy demand while ensuring everyone gets home safely at the end of the working day. Well done to the Survey team, and to Jenny – all thoroughly deserving winners!”
The project was granted consent in February 2026 and these two awards are testament to the work that is already ongoing as the project gears up for construction in the coming years working towards the grid connection date, confirmed for November 2030.
Front row L-R: Josselin Bost, Jenny Marsden, Luis McArthur, Stephanie Thom, Gregor Calderwood
Back row L-R: Patrick Martin, Michelle Aitken, John Duncan, Jamie McCabe
