Five years ago, Mathew Taylor decided to trade dry land for a life at sea and it’s been plain sailing ever since.
Mathew, from Lowestoft, lay down his tools as a carpenter in 2012 to work for Turner Iceni, a renewable energy vessel specialist based in the town, as a trainee deckhand.
Since joining Turner Iceni, Mathew has enjoyed a meteoric rise through the ranks and three years ago he became a skipper, captaining his own vessel in the fleet. He has now progressed from skippering a 15 metre vessel to a 23 metre vessel.
He will be playing a key role in Turner Iceni’s work on East Anglia ONE, his biggest project to date, skippering a vessel that will be taking out different teams and parts to the offshore site throughout the windfarm’s development.
Mathew said about working on East Anglia ONE: It’s always a great moment when you start a new project and to be selected to work on such a big contract is a proud moment for me. People from the area have been talking about the windfarm industry and how big it would be for the region for some time now, and to be a part of that and to see the positive impact it is having is really exciting.
“I’ve worked on offshore windfarm projects before and it’s great to have the opportunity to work on one of the biggest projects of this kind around. You don’t realise how huge these structures and turbines are until you’re out there next to them and I’m looking forward to the challenges and responsibility that comes with the East Anglia ONE project.”
East Anglia ONE is very much a family affair for Mathew, who will be joined on his vessel by his brother, Rory, who recently joined Turner Iceni as a trainee.
“Rory used to be a landscape gardener and recently joined the team as a trainee after I recommended him to my boss. It’s been great to work with him, with such a large project getting underway there’s a lot to learn in a short space of time, but he puts 100 per cent into everything he does and is definitely a great asset to have on the crew.”
Mathew concluded: “I can’t wait to get started and to begin working with the East Anglia ONE team on this significant project.”