PICT – A BETTER WAY: FROM PROTOTYPE TO PROVING WHAT’S POSSIBLE

What if there’s a better way?

For Pict Offshore, that simple question has been at the heart of a journey from early stage
prototype to proven technology, supporting a growing team and demonstrating a business with an increasingly visible place in the offshore wind supply chain.

It began with a challenge: how do you get technicians safely from a vessel to a turbine, often many miles offshore?

In 2016, this initiated R&D into a new, heave-compensated personnel lifting solution. In 2017 and 2018, early prototypes of Pict’s Get Up Safe (GUS) system were tested at ORE Catapult’s 7MW Levenmouth Demonstration Turbine. The near-shore site gave Pict the opportunity to test and refine the technology before subjecting it to the realities of offshore operation.

Those early tests helped move GUS towards commercialisation. In 2019, following a collaborative R&D programme with Ørsted, Pict Offshore was founded to bring the technology to market.

Since then, GUS has gone from prototype to proven solution. It is now installed across all 165 turbines at Ørsted’s Hornsea 2, as well as three of its US wind farms, with more than 27,000 operational personnel lifts completed, entirely replacing boat-landings and step-across transfer as the method of access from Crew Transfer Vessels.

But proving GUS opened the door to a new question: if this technology could safely transfer people offshore, could it also be used to move equipment?

That question led to GUSx2, the next generation of the system. Combining GUS’s active heave compensation with the functionality of a davit crane, GUSx2 is designed to transfer both personnel and cargo, with loads of between one and three tonnes.

Development Funding from the Offshore Wind Growth Partnership (OWGP) supported Pict to develop, build and test GUSx2. Alongside this, the OWGP Sharing in Growth Sprint programme helped strengthen the business behind the technology, supporting Pict to improve its management processes as it grew.

And Pict has grown significantly. The production of GUSx2 has created 15 skilled jobs in Scotland and has driven increased demand for steel and manufacturing among Pict’s wider network of UK suppliers.

That growth is also visible in the way Pict now presents its technology to industry. In December 2025, Pict brought GUSx2 to Spotlight’s Technology Demonstration Zone, showcasing the substantial piece of kit to developers, innovators and investors.

It attracted attention. Visitors stopped to see the system in action, ask questions and find out more about what it could do. The response gave Pict the confidence to take the same approach to Global Offshore Wind 2026, putting GUSx2 at the heart of its presence with a live demonstration and a stand of its own.

From a prototype tested at Levenmouth to a proven and commercially scaled technology, a new generation of innovation and a growing business, Pict’s journey shows what can happen when a company is given the opportunity to push the boundaries of technology.

As Spotlight returns for a fifth year, Pict is one of the many businesses whose success we are proud to celebrate. We look forward to welcoming them back in 2026 and seeing what comes next.

Pict’s Managing Director Philip Taylor said:

“For almost a decade, we’ve worked with the ORE Catapult and OWGP across feasibility studies, prototype testing, innovation funding and business process development.

This work has been critical in allowing us to accelerate and scale our innovations to meet commercial opportunities.

Spotlight provides a fantastic showcase for us and like-minded companies to celebrate this collaboration. We’re very much looking forward to the show in Birmingham this year”