Last updated 17:35, Thursday, 27 March 2008

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FOR THE past seven years, Washington Group International has been the main sponsor of Whitehaven Rugby League Football Club. That makes them one of the longest-serving sponsors in the League. So who are Washington Group International and what is their connection with West Cumbria?

The company is one of the world’s leading engineering, construction and management companies, with approximately 25,000 employees and projects in more than 40 countries. Today it is the clear market leader in the environmental management, nuclear waste management and clean-up of nuclear sites for the US Government.

At the end of last year, it merged with the URS Corporation, to create the fourth largest US engineering company, and to offer an even greater range of expertise. The combined company has 55,000 people worldwide, 1,000 of them in the UK. In the future Washington Group International will be officially known as the Washington Division of URS, but the shirts won’t be changing just yet!

TODAY URS Washington Division leads the UK Nuclear Waste Management consortium which is the NDA’s preferred bidder to manage the UK low-level waste repository near Drigg. Its partners are Studsvik UK, Areva and Serco Assurance.

It is also, in partnership with Amec and Areva, a member of Nuclear Management Partners Ltd which is one of four groups bidding for the operation of Sellafield. This powerful team brings together the leaders in nuclear operations and remediation in the US, the UK and France.

URS Washington Division is committed to working with local communities and developing local business. Last year in Cumbria it donated more than £180,000 to West Cumbrian organisations and events, a large proportion for educational and employment initiatives. It has been backed up by active participation by its business executives in initiatives such as the West Cumbria Business Cluster, Whitehaven Maritime Festival Company and the Nuclear Skills Academy.

URS Washington Division has contributed an initial £20,000 to the Nuclear Skills Academy being built at Lillyhall. This will be a world-class centre of excellence for nuclear skills development, training people to meet the huge growing demand for nuclear engineering skills as a result of the renaissance in the industry both in the UK and worldwide.

Jim Carrick, Washington Division’s Regional Executive for Europe, who is a member of the Academy Board, says: “In the UK as the nuclear renaissance takes shape, we shall need more and more skilled people in the industry. It is a challenge but brings great opportunities for those who work with us. At Washington we look forward to joining with the NDA and others to contribute to the training programmes required.”

URS Washington Division is committed to safety as its number one priority, so it has been of great satisfaction to strike a very productive working relationship with the Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service.

Last year, funded by Washington Group, a stage theatre group toured a number of secondary schools in the area with the Fire Service to promote fire safety in the home. In May, Washington Group sponsored the first ever Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service awards ceremony.

URS Washington Division is supporting efforts to bring more jobs and business to the area. It has provided £25,000 to the West Cumbria Development Agency (WCDA) whose central aim is to help create jobs in the boroughs of Copeland and Allerdale. It also assists the West Cumbria Business Cluster founded by small local businesses to help each other and was the main sponsor of the 2007 Cumbria Business Awards.

NUCLEAR Management Partners, the powerful international consortium which comprises Washington Division, Amec and Areva, is a main sponsor of the Status Quo concert to be held in Whitehaven in August. It is part of its support for community activities in West Cumbria which are also bringing in economic benefits.

Washington Group was a main sponsor of last year’s successful Whitehaven Maritime Festival.

IN November, Washington Group announced that it had agreed, for the eighth consecutive year, to be the main sponsor of Whitehaven Rugby League Club with an increased annual sponsorship of £42,000.

The group has also pledged to match donations for the new stand up to a total of £60,000, while Nuclear Management Partners, the consortium bidding for Sellafield which brings Washington together with Amec and Areva, has pledged another £20,000.

Iain Irving, Washington’s West Cumbria Operations Director, says: “Our reasons for sticking with Haven are based around our admiration for what the club does for the local community and how much it means to the people of the town.

“Washington Group International has shown the local community that it means a lot more to West Cumbria than just being the name on the players’ shirts – it is a company with the socio-economic development of West Cumbria featuring very highly in its thoughts, a core value not just talked about but put into action both financially and physically. This kind of social responsibility is integral to our company.”