Business flooding in for Neptune

IN business: Michael Mulvihill (right) with Neptune colleagues Simeon Wood, Craig Alldridge and Luke Webster

A FAILSWORTH company is pioneering a new flood barrier that could save millions of pounds for governments and communities.

Michael Mulvihill has invented the system and is chief executive of Neptune Solutions Global Ltd, which has offices at the Ivy Business Centre in Crown Street.

He has been in civil engineering for 22 years and has spent two of them developing his steel-framed barrier defence, which he claims outperforms traditional sheet piling and concrete systems.

“Concrete walls and sheet piling are expensive options and also time consuming and require lots of labour.

“My solution is 10 times faster to erect and far more cost competitive.”

Mr Mulvihill (46) is close to landing his first contract and has secured a worldwide patent in 184 countries. He is confident the system will break through industry barriers.

“The big civil engineering companies won’t like my system,” he added. “Ten metres of traditional concrete or steel piling barrier takes 39 days to install. Ten metres of my system takes a day - and is ready for use immediately.”

Mr Mulvihill said: “The costs savings can be huge. Instead of paying £16million a mile, my system can be rented at a fraction of that cost.”

He intends having a global network in place with Oldham as the hub, though there aren’t premises in borough at the moment that can house the company.