What Empire Engineering does

Empire Engineering Limited is a specialist engineering consultancy, founded in 2014 and headquartered in Bristol, United Kingdom, focused exclusively on offshore wind foundation design. The firm supports both fixed-bottom (monopile, jacket) and floating wind projects across the full lifecycle — feasibility, Early Stage Design (concept and FEED), Detailed Design, Owner's Engineer (including engineer secondments), and Specialist Engineering (e.g., grouted connections, MP-TP analysis, T&I planning, life extension). Its proprietary in-house software Fathom performs ULS (Ultimate Limit State), FLS (Fatigue Limit State), natural frequency analysis and soil-structure interaction calculations, used to drive site-specific optimised foundation designs through DNV certification pathways.

The company operates from offices in Bristol (HQ), London, Edinburgh, Marseille and Beijing, serving a globally concentrated customer base of major offshore wind developers and Tier 1 contractors including SSE Renewables, Equinor, RWE, EDF, Parkwind, Thistle Wind Partners, ScottishPower Renewables, Ørsted, EnBW, ESB, Cadeler, Heerema, General Electric, RTE, Qair and Buchan Offshore Wind. Revenue is generated entirely through professional services — bespoke project-based consulting engagements, long-term engineer secondments, retainer arrangements and owner's engineering contracts priced per engagement (multi-year duration typical, no standardised public pricing). Business development is led by Partners (Karl Davis as Managing Director, Louise Coles as Partner for Finance and Marketing) with technical direction from Partners Nick Howard, Dr. Eleni Minga (Lead Fathom Engineer) and Benoît Brière (Head of Floating).

Empire is a privately-held UK limited company with no identified external investors, PE/VC backing or parent entity, and does not publish financial statements. It maintains ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 certifications (valid through February 2027) and operates Foundation Ex — an industry conference/webinar/video ecosystem launched in 2019 — alongside its Guide to Offshore Wind Foundations publication and Flip Chart Friday educational video series. Contract highlights include Dogger Bank (concept through owner's engineering for 3.6 GW with SSE/Equinor), East Anglia Hub (3,250 MW owner's engineering), Norfolk Vanguard West and East (Value Engineering delivering over £100M CAPEX reduction), Le Treport/Noirmoutier (984 MW), Sofia (984 MW owner's engineer for RWE), Saint Nazaire/Courseulles (480 MW for EDF), Arcadis Ost (257 MW innovative TP-less monopiles for Parkwind), and Ayre (1 GW floating) plus Bowdun (1 GW bottom-fixed) owner's engineering for Thistle Wind Partners.

Name

Empire Engineering

Legal name

EMPIRE ENGINEERING LIMITED

Website

https://empireengineering.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Empire Engineering Limited is a specialist Bristol-headquartered consultancy providing offshore wind foundation engineering — concept design, FEED, detailed design and owner's engineering — to major global wind developers and contractors across the UK, France, Germany and China.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Offshore Wind Engineering Consultancy

NAICS

Engineering Services (54133), Engineering Services (541330)

SIC

Services-Engineering Services (8711)

akta.pro primary industry

Offshore Wind Substructures & Marine Engineering (Monopiles, Jackets, Floating) (EUAMACAE)

akta.pro secondary industries

Project Management & Owner’s Engineering / Technical Consultancy (Spec Writing, Bid Support, Site Support) (IMAJAGAO), Asset Management & Owner’s Engineering (Lifecycle Strategy, Budgeting, Technical Due Diligence) (EUAMAGAJ)

Keywords

• Offshore wind engineering
• Foundation design services
• Renewable energy consultancy
• Wind turbine foundations
• Floating wind engineering

Headquarters

HQ city

Bristol

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices5 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Engineering Consultancy Services: Professional services revenue from providing offshore wind foundation engineering consultancy. Services include Early Stage Design (concept and FEED), Detailed Design, Owner's Engineer secondments, and Specialist Engineering. Revenue is generated through project-based consulting engagements, long-term secondment contracts, and retainer arrangements with major developers.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Empire Engineering is a specialist engineering consultancy that provides offshore wind foundation design and owner's engineering services for fixed-bottom and floating wind projects. The firm delivers four core service lines — Early Stage Design (concept and FEED), Detailed Design (certified fabrication-ready designs), Owner's Engineer (secondment and project support), and Specialist Engineering — supported by its proprietary in-house foundation design software, Fathom.

Product overview

Empire Engineering is a specialist engineering consultancy focused exclusively on offshore wind foundations for both wind turbine generators and offshore substations, covering fixed and floating structures. The company offers four core service lines: Early Stage Design (concept and FEED), Detailed Design (certified designs), Owner's Engineer (secondment and project support), and Specialist Engineering (supplementary technical services). The firm differentiates through Fathom, its proprietary offshore foundation design software used across all service offerings for ULS, FLS, natural frequency analysis, and soil-structure interaction. Additional offerings include the Foundation Ex knowledge-sharing forum and Guide to Offshore Wind Foundations publication. Empire Engineering supports clients across the full project lifecycle from feasibility through to decommissioning.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Early Stage Design Concept and front-end engineering design (FEED) services for offshore wind foundations, including site data assessments, used by offshore wind developers to evaluate options and build robust business cases.
• Detailed Design Certified, cost-optimised foundation designs for fabrication and installation, covering primary steel, secondary steel, corrosion protection, and interface management through DNV certification processes for offshore wind developers.
• Owner's Engineer Supplementing offshore wind developer project teams with specialist foundation engineers via secondment or back-office support, covering foundation package management, design management, T&I management, and certification management.
• Specialist Engineering Complementary engineering services including grouted connection design, MP-TP connection analysis, installation guide design, T&I planning, forensic failure analysis, structural health monitoring, and life extension assessments for offshore wind projects.
• Fathom Purpose-built, proprietary offshore foundation design software developed in-house, handling ULS, FLS, natural frequency analysis, and soil-structure interaction for both early and detailed design stages of offshore wind foundations.

Quantifiable outcome

• Reduced project CAPEX by over £100M for Norfolk Vanguard West and East through Value Engineering
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• OWC (Offshore Wind Consulting)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 5 June 2025Empire Engineering and OWC have been jointly selected to provide owner's engineering services for the Ayre and Bowdun offshore wind farms supporting Thistle Wind Partners (TWP). Empire Engineering covers the foundation packages while OWC handles cables, onshore civils and electricals, wind resource and layouts, WTGs and overall project management. Delivered from OWC's Glasgow office by an integrated interdisciplinary team.
• Thistle Wind Partners (TWP)coreOthers · 5 June 2025TWP is the project client — a consortium composed of DEME, Qair and Aspiravi developing the Ayre (1 GW floating) and Bowdun (1 GW bottom-fixed) offshore wind farms off the coast of Scotland. Empire Engineering and OWC were selected to provide owner's engineering services from concept selection through further design phases.
• ABL GroupminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerABL Group is the parent company of OWC. ABL Group (OSE: ABL Group ASA) is a global consultancy with offices in 43 countries, operating under four brands: ABL, AGR, OWC, and Longitude. ABL Group provides transport and installation (T&I) support for the OWC-Empire joint team on the Ayre and Bowdun projects.
• DNVcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDNV is the primary certification body for offshore wind foundation designs. Empire Engineering has extensive experience navigating DNV certification processes and their track record of successful certifications ensures foundation designs meet all standards efficiently. The company also references DNV standards and load factor requirements (ULS factor of 1.2, material uncertainty factor of 1.15) in its engineering analysis.
• Tech Sessions Partners (ITH, SIF)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerITH (ITH Bolting Technology) and SIF (Société Internationale de Forage) are named as Tech Sessions partners supporting the thought leadership webinar programme. Nick Howard from Empire was joined by Marc Seidel from Siemens Gamesa and Colin Schroder from ITH Bolting Technology for the Big Bolted Connections session.

Scale indicators16 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Others

• DNV: Global certification, advisory, and energy consultancy and Empire's primary certification partner for foundation designs. Provides adjacent assurance and technical advisory services and could be a competitor for owner's engineering and due-diligence engagements.

Broad incumbents

• Saipem: Major offshore engineering, procurement, construction, and installation contractor with offshore wind EPCI capability. Adjacent to Empire — competes on full-package offshore wind foundation delivery and may bring engineering design in-house.
• Worley: Global engineering and project delivery consultancy with a renewable energy practice covering offshore wind, hydrogen, and grid infrastructure. Competes with Empire for foundation-related owner's engineering work on large multi-package developments.
• AtkinsRéalis: Global engineering consultancy (formerly Atkins/SNC-Lavalin) with an offshore wind practice covering foundation design, owner's engineering, and project management. Overlaps with Empire's specialist offerings as part of a broader portfolio.
• Arup: Global engineering consultancy with significant offshore wind capability across foundations, substations, and overall project engineering. Overlaps with Empire on specialist foundation design but offers much broader service lines.

Direct peers

• Wood Thilsted: Specialist offshore wind foundation engineering consultancy and one of Empire's most direct competitors, with deep expertise in monopile, jacket, and floating foundation design for major European and global offshore wind projects.
• ABL Group (parent of OWC): Global energy and marine consultancy and parent of OWC — Empire's joint venture partner on the Ayre/Bowdun owner's engineering work. ABL provides adjacent T&I, marine warranty, and consultancy services that overlap with Empire's specialist offerings.
• COWI: Global engineering consultancy with a major offshore wind practice spanning foundation design, geotechnics, and owner's engineering across fixed and floating wind — competing directly with Empire for specialist foundation work.
• Ramboll: Large engineering consultancy with deep offshore wind foundation design heritage and broad geographic coverage, competing with Empire on major European offshore wind foundation and owner's engineering engagements.

Emerging players

• Venterra Group: Offshore wind services platform that builds and acquires specialist consultancies serving offshore wind developers. Competes with Empire indirectly by aggregating capability and acting as a counterweight to independent specialists.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/empire-engineering

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Empire Engineering