A specialist drilling rig is on its way to the University of York, where it will bore a four-kilometre geothermal well as part of the university’s push towards Net Zero.
The rig is travelling aboard the cargo vessel BBC Bangkok, which set out from Isdemir in Turkey and has been crossing the Mediterranean at 11 knots, heading through the Strait of Gibraltar and up past the Atlantic coast and Bay of Biscay before docking at Immingham, in North East Lincolnshire, in the first part of September.
Once ashore, crews will move the rig — a Drillmec swing-lift electric model known as Rig 65 — into a holding area before it heads to a specialist yard for final preparation. Early next year it will be transported to University Campus East for assembly ahead of drilling.
Weighing in with 2,000 horsepower and capable of hoisting up to 500 tonnes, the rig will spend roughly a year on site boring down four kilometres — a depth comparable to stacking a dozen Eiffel Towers on top of each other.
Clean-energy potential
Named FutureSource, the project aims to draw on natural geothermal heat beneath York to cut the university’s reliance on fossil fuels, while also giving researchers and students a hands-on site for geoscience study and training, and a working demonstration of clean-energy potential that could be applied more widely across the region and the UK.
Marriott Drilling Group will lead the drilling itself, due to begin in 2027, with a noise monitoring system in place and any ground vibration expected to stay very localised and unlikely to be noticeable beyond the site.
Paul Bushnell, the university’s geothermal project director, said: “This is an incredible piece of engineering making its way to York. This project will transform how we power our campus. It will act as a living laboratory that will spur pioneering research, equip our students with future skills and aims to deliver real environmental benefits for our region.”
Jonti Hobday, Director of Marriott Drilling Group, said: “Marriott Drilling is proud to be the delivery partner for this flagship UK deep geothermal project. As a UK company with 79 years of global experience, we are pleased to bring our international expertise home to support the project’s success and demonstrate geothermal energy’s role in the energy transition.”
Work on campus is already under way, following planning permission granted in April 2026.
