Tom Candlish

Tom Candlish graduated from Glasgow University (Scotland) in 1951 after serving his country in the Royal Engineers. Posted to Borneo by his employer, George Wimpey & Co., Candlish oversaw installation of the first offshore hydrocarbon structure in the South China Sea for Brunei Shell in 20 ft of water. Later, he installed the first offshore loading line and buoy at Miri, Sarawak, also for Shell.

In 1958, Candlish installed the first offshore hydrocarbon structures in the Arabian Gulf in waters starting at 40 ft deep and extending to 60 ft deep. He also installed the beach approach for the offshore pipelines at Das Island in Abu Dhabi in 1961. In 1964-65, Candlish supervised fabrication of offshore platforms at Port Harcourt, Nigeria.

From 1971, as a Director of George Wimpey & Co., and Board Member of Highland Fabricators, he oversaw many North Sea deep water projects including the construction of BP’s Forties and Magnus platforms and Conoco’s Hutton TLP. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and of the Institution of Civil Engineers (UK).