Company Profile

The story can be traced back to 1987 and a small NDT services company based in Barton-on-Humber and called Radiographique Ltd.

A failed acquisition by an established Teeside company resulted in the formation of SPI NDT Limited in 1991, in 1992 the company moved to occupy new premises in Hall Park Road, Immingham where it remained until 2007. The company initially concentrated on conventional NDT services to the local petro-chemical, power generation and fabrication industries, X & Gamma-Radiography, UT, MPI & DPI. A Mechanical Testing Laboratory was the next addition offering machining and testing of welder qualification and weld procedure tests. Soon after, the addition of an Electro-Furnace was to follow allowing us to offer stress relieving of pipe spools and fabricated items.

In 1995 the company achieved ISO 9001 accreditation of its quality management system for NDT Services and Mechanical Testing Services. Later the company became an associate member of the British Institute of NDT and also a member of the Service Inspection Group.

The company grew steadily over the years to the point where in 2007 it could be classed as a medium to large third party inspection company carrying out major site projects for most leading UK main contractors and end users. In 2007 a new purpose built facility in Immingham was completed boasting three radiography bays, a new larger Electo-Furnace and a new mechanical testing laboratory all served by a 5 tonne overhead crane and generous yard space to accept larger transport.

Late 2007 saw the company expand further with the acquisition of Ultrarad Technical Services Hull Ltd, UTS has an enviable track record in the field of ship surveys holding certificates from ABS, DNV, GL, NK and Lloyds and we have now integrated their operations under the SPI name. This has allowed us to offer additional services of both Ship Surveys and more recently the specialist Storage Tank Surveys under the EEMUA scheme. In October 2010 the company became part of the IRIS NDT group of Canada and North America, and importantly to SPI was the chance to join forces with Matrix Inspection and Thermal Technologies. A new UK parent company was formed called IRIS NDT UK Ltd with SPI & Matrix merging to form SPI Matrix Ltd and this new company benefitting from the fusion of SPI NDT’s conventional NDT services expertise  and the range of specialist services provided by Matrix. The newly formed inspection company SPI Matrix can boast a range of NDT services that few can rival and with the backing of the Canadian parent company there is no project that the company cannot contemplate.

It was recognised that UKAS accreditation to BS EN ISO 17020 for NDT services was required to develop the company further. In 2011 the company appointed a consultant to develop the quality system with a plan to achieve accreditation in early 2012. In addition the mechanical testing laboratory has embarked on a program to develop a quality system with the intention of attaining UKAS accreditation to BS EN ISO 17025. Within the new group in the US is a Heat Treatment and Bolting company called Thermal Technologies Inc. This has provided an opportunity to move the heat treatment services from SPI into a dedicated heat treatment company. In 2011 a new company was formed in the UK called Thermal Technologies International Ltd (TTI) with the intention of establishing a new heat treatment service by taking over the workshop heat treatment ovens in Immingham and building on that to provide a full site heat treatment and bolting service. TTI achieved accreditation to BS EN ISO 9001: 2008 within six months of its inception.

In October 2011 the NDT and Heat Treatment business of Assured Inspection Services was acquired giving the UK group additional bases in Kent and Pembroke in South Wales. We can now boast office and workshop facilities including radiography bays in Stockton, Hull, Immingham, Kent and Pembroke. John Dawson will continue to manage the Kent and Pembroke operations initially under the Assured name. With the experience that John and Assured has in providing NDT services on Power Station outages combined with the back up and resources available from within the group we are confident of being able to provide unrivalled levels of service.