Category: News

The England Rugby World Cup 2015 provides the perfect opportunity to deliver a lasting legacy and to raise the profile of sport in our schools and the wider community.

In order to capitalise on the interest in sport generated, the availability of referees, coaches and quality sports facilities, to enable the next budding sportsmen and women to achieve their ambitions and succeed in their chosen field, will be high on the agenda.

Sports Pitch Specialists

The O’Brien Sports management team has over 55 years’ experience in sports pitch construction and we are one of the first large civil engineering firms able to offer turnkey solutions for a range of sports facilities, delivering projects ranging from stadiums and arenas through to rugby, football and hockey pitches. This capability is all maintained in house – with no outsourcing required – by a team of experts with a proven track record of delivering design and build sports projects to a diverse range of exacting client specifications.

The sports installations that we deliver include synthetic and Multi Use Games Area (MUGA) pitches with surfaces suitable for just about every sport and user, from professional sports teams to schools and communities, and natural sports pitches, such as those used for rugby, football and cricket.

Recent projects have included the construction of a FIFA-compliant football pitch, an Olympic-standard, eight lane athletics track (complete with long jump, triple jump, high jump and pole vault) and a football club (complete with 11 natural turf pitches, changing facilities, entrance road and car park). All elements of these projects were handled in house and to our uncompromising standards.

Oswestry School
O’Brien Sports constructed a synthetic grass hockey pitch for Oswestry School in Shropshire.

The design and build contract involved the construction of a full size sand dressed synthetic grass hockey pitch, installed upon an insitu rubber shock pad, on an engineered base.

The project included approximately 4500 m3 of earthwork remodelling, the construction of a spectator area, fencing and floodlighting. Additional works included: access roads and car parking facilities with bollard lighting.
The new pitch was completed within the 12 week time-frame and was handed over to the school ready for its new term.

“From my perspective, it was a delight to work with O’Brien and would not hesitate to recommend them to anyone. One of the reasons for choosing O’Brien was the fact that we were dealing with the top management from the start.”
Phil Bowd – Bursar at Oswestry School

Wasps Rugby Club
O’Brien Sports partnered with GreenFields UK for the installation of a new playing surface at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry.

The project involved site preparation works to remove the existing 8000m2 playing surface before the installation of a new natural turf surface, farmed in the Netherlands, could be installed. Works started on 5th December and was completed ready for Coventry City’s home league game with Fleetwood Town on 20th December.

Services
O’Brien offers a full range of sports pitch services, including:

• Full design and build construction projects
• Synthetic and multi-use games area (MUGA) pitches
• Pitch renovations
• Natural sports pitches
• Total solutions for sports pitches

The total solution…from concept to construction, we design and build all Synthetic and Natural Sports Surfaces.

T: 01926 423918
E: info@obriencontractors.co.uk

Leading groundworks and civil engineering contractor, O’Brien, has been awarded the prestigious Specialist Contractor of the Year (turnover up to £25m) prize at the Construction News Specialists Awards.

The title is awarded for creating an impressive strategic plan in response to the recent economic downturn, diversifying into new work streams and targeting higher value projects.

The Awards judges said, “O’Brien Contractors were able to demonstrate that they are successfully implementing a plan through investment in training and development.”

In 2009, the company’s turnover was £11m with profit only £73k. Its plan to invest, diversify, train, overhaul processes and focus on risks and opportunities has increased average project value from £463,000 to £874,000 during 2014 and turnover up by 68% over 5 years.

The judges were particularly impressed with the level of investment in new and innovative plant and equipment to support the productivity of the business. O’Brien has invested over £4 million in new plant, technology and training programmes, delivering on its commitment to improve efficiency and reduce ongoing costs.

O’Brien were also commended for the results of the strategic plan which led to a strong portfolio of projects and customers as well as an impressive improvement in both top line and bottom line performance – major projects include: Marks and Spencer in Longbridge, Birmingham for Morgan Sindall, New Cross Hospital Emergency Centre in Wolverhampton for Kier Construction and Jaguar Land Rover’s Engineering Facility for Galliford Try in Gaydon.

Peter O’Brien, managing director, O’Brien Contractors, said: “We have always believed that a strong investment in our people and technology are important in helping to stand out from the crowd and be recognised as a leader in our field. This has proven to be a winning approach and this national Award recognises the hard work, commitment and dedication of the whole O’Brien team.

Leading groundworks and civil engineering contractor, O’Brien, has been appointed to work on Alumno Developments’ £30m Eastside Locks residential development.

Located in Birmingham’s new science, technology and learning quarter, Number 1 City Locks will provide accommodation for 659 students, alongside Birmingham City University’s new £260m state-of-the-art facilities, forging a new vibrant and rejuvenated campus in the heart of the city centre.

The Eastside Locks contract, awarded by principal contractor, John Sisk, will see O’Brien deliver an array of groundworks, including: associated drainage, services and hard / soft landscaping, foundations with stepped ground beams and numerous insitu concrete columns up to podium slab level.

Tony Mitchell, Operations Manager, O’Brien Contractors, said: “Eastside is Birmingham’s largest physical regeneration scheme and we are very proud to be chosen to provide groundworks and enabling works for John Sisk, on such a flagship scheme.”

“We will be operating to a very tight programme, within a very constrained site and key to the overall success of the project, will be our philosophy of working openly and collaboratively with our clients, from the beginning, to ensure we identify and resolve any unforeseen problems which may lie ahead.”

Established in 1958 as a regional specialist contractor, O’Brien has built on decades of experience and has achieved preferred status with a number of industry-leading main contractors.

Over the years, O’Brien has amassed a wealth of knowledge and experience in the education and residential sectors, having previously delivered: £5m of works for Aston University at the Aston Student Village in Birmingham and £6m of infrastructure works and groundworks for SDC as part of the construction of a new main campus building at Northampton College.

“Our key commitment has been to improve customer service through diversification and innovation and we continue to expand our range of services in line with our clients’ needs.”

“We are constantly looking for ways to improve and develop our people and our processes and challenge ourselves to constantly re-evaluate our core competencies. By doing this we ensure that we understand our clients’ drivers, concerns and pressures so that they will always receive the best service for the best value.” said Tony Mitchell.

Construction News Magazine – SME Spotlight 13/03/2015

While the recession may officially be behind us, its echoes continue to reverberate through the industry with many companies facing unique and unprecedented challenges, particularly in the areas of talent, technology and resource.

While these three issues are interconnected and each has a significant role to play in the future of the UK construction sector, perhaps the most significant is the current problem of a diminished workforce. The sector suffered a significant blow during the recessionary years with 400,000 jobs lost and predictions that another 400,000 skilled employees will exit the industry through retirement by 2020.

This skills drought, which has been felt across all construction trades, has led to a deficit that has the potential to affect the continued growth of the industry as a contributor to the UK economy. Consequently in order to ensure that we can meet growing demand for delivery of construction projects, we need to demonstrate to school leavers that careers in construction can be rewarding.

A fully trained professional can earn £100,000 a year in this industry, a figure which is being driven up as businesses boost salaries in order to attract and retain the best talent from a dwindling talent pool.

A younger, more tech-savvy workforce will also be of great benefit to the construction industry, as technology plays an increasingly prevalent role.

In order to fully harness the benefits of innovations such as Building Information Modelling (BIM) tools – which help to reduce costs and increase efficiency of material use – companies may need to consider refocussing their investment strategies to grow their technology presence and experience.

Methodologies such as BIM are particularly useful at a time when the scarcity of resources required to meet the upturn in demand in the sector is providing a significant barrier to continued growth and expansion.

This has placed significant additional pressure on the sector, forcing companies to find alternative resourcing solutions. There is no ‘quick fix’ solution to this problem however businesses can insulate themselves by ensuring that they have a robust chain of trusted and experienced suppliers in place.

There are of course also a number of factors that are outside the control of the industry at large. Chief among these are the tightening rules being applied by lenders, and tax changes levied by the government. The double impact of reduced accessibility to funding, combined with increasing levels of corporate taxation could place an even tighter stranglehold on the viability of businesses to address the issues that have been outlined above.

Greater clarity from the Government on their promised increase in investment and policy on capital expenditure would go some way towards offering businesses a modicum of reassurance.

Ultimately, we need to ensure that we fully understand our customers’ needs and as an industry should be prepared to provide a more proactive advisory role if we feel that a solution that has been requested is really the right fit.

We believe that Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) is absolutely fundamental, enabling us to leverage our expertise and industry knowledge from the earliest possible stage in the process. In turn, this can lead to a more viable and cost-effective solution for a project, reducing waste material and driving down cost.

Put simply, those businesses that are confident enough to treat this post-recessionary period as an opportunity to reconsider and realign their core workplace functions will be the ones that will not only flourish during this current economic cycle, but will go on to weather the next dip far better than their competitors.

Leading groundworks and civil engineering contractor, O’Brien, has been appointed to work on Goodman’s regeneration of Browns Lane in Coventry.

In the latest phase of the masterplan for the regeneration of the former Jaguar Land Rover site, the Lyons Park development will deliver 214,000 sq ft of modern industrial space to the local area.

Appointed by principal contractor, John Sisk, the project will see O’Brien deliver a host of earthworks and groundworks, including: 36,000m2 site cut and fill to form a reduced level excavation for the building foot prints, pad foundations, new storm and foul drainage system and service yards – incorporating the petrol interceptors and an attenuation tank.

Stuart Chamberlain, Director, O’Brien Contractors sees the contract as further evidence of the firms diversification strategy paying dividends: “Our ongoing investment in cutting edge surveying equipment and state-of-the-art excavators and bulldozers; equipped with GPS control systems, enables us to continually improve the quality of our work and the speed of installation.”

“Our technical expertise is essential in carrying out the works and assisting in creating cut and fill balance on complex and time restricted earthworks schemes. It enables our expert operators to deliver the design to the exact client specifications and ensures we provide the highest quality and level of service possible.”

The £1.65m contract will see O’Brien Contractors on-site for 20 weeks, with the overall scheme due for completion this summer.

Coventry City Football Club has another O’Brien on board – but unlike team captain Jim, its work has taken place underneath the Ricoh Arena pitch, rather than on it.

O’Brien Contractors prepared the ground at the Ricoh, including removing the 8,000 sq m playing surface to allow GreenFields to install the new pitch there last December.

O’Brien Contractors is the first and only large civil engineering firm able to offer turnkey solutions for a range of sports pitch installations, delivering projects ranging from athletics tracks, football pitches through to hockey and rugby pitches.

This capability is all maintained in house – with no outsourcing required – by a team of experts with a proven track record of delivering design and build sports projects to a diverse range of exacting client specifications.

The company has now taken an advertising board at the ground and believes it will help to raise the profile of the firm on a national basis.

Mick O’Brien, Director, O’Brien Contractors, said: “This is a very specialist field and is something we want to shout about to the world and, also, we want to raise awareness about the company in general.

“We have sponsored Coventry City in the past and also tie-in with other local clubs so we do have a good sporting heritage.

“Over the years, O’Brien have been fortunate to have great success and are keen to ensure we give back to the community whenever possible. This includes sponsoring numerous local sporting clubs, providing everything from the kit to the scoreboards. We also support many schools by supplying playground materials and new IT equipment.”

Tynan Scope, Coventry City’s corporate sales manager, said: “It’s great to have O’Brien Contractors on board with the club in this way and we have seen how this kind of sponsorship can help to raise the profile of a business over many, many years.

“In our game against Rochdale recently, three of the four goals were scored right in front of their board and resulted in positive national TV exposure for the company – that’s just one of the many benefits.”

Leading groundworks and civil engineering contractor, O’Brien, is celebrating the start of 2015 with a hat-trick of high-profile project wins valued in the region of £7m.

The contractor has also been shortlisted in four categories of the 2015 Construction News Specialist Awards: Specialist Contractor of the Year (turnover up to £25m), Sustainable Project of the Year, Project of the Year (subcontract over £2m) and Ground Engineering Specialist of the Year.

Appointed by principal contractor, Sir Robert McAlpine, O’Brien will deliver a host of groundworks on LondonMetric Property’s £77m Thunderbird 2 scheme – a 90,000 m2 floor distribution centre near Thrapston. The project marks the start of a new relationship with Sir Robert McAlpine.

The partnership formed at Nestle’s new £200m coffee production facility has helped secure two further schemes with John Sisk: a groundworks package at Alumno Developments’ £30m Student Accommodation at Eastside Locks in Birmingham and an additional groundworks contract for three distribution units at Goodman’s Lyons Park scheme in Coventry.

The wins come on the back of a successful 2014 in which O’Brien Contractors picked up a number of flagship projects, including: a £6.5m Marks and Spencer civil engineering and groundworks package with Morgan Sindall at Longbridge in Birmingham; a £5.5m roads and sewers contract for new service personnel housing at MOD Stafford with Lovell Partnership; and a £2.5m groundworks for Kier Construction at the New Cross Hospital Emergency Department, Wolverhampton.

Managing Director, Peter O’Brien said: “In 2009, instead of seeing the financial crisis as a negative, we embarked on a 5 year diversification strategy turning the company from a groundworks specialist to a principal contractor offering pre-construction services, design and build, sport pitch construction, traditional contracting and plant hire.”

“We also invested more than £4m in training, plant, equipment and technology – £2m during 2014 – and have retained our directly-employed labour force.”

“This success demonstrates the hard work, commitment and dedication everyone at O’Brien Contractors has shown in implementing our business strategy: to deliver the best service to our customers and to improve the efficiency and environmental impact of construction projects.

“We are of course delighted to be recognised for our achievements: by being appointed onto some of the most high-profile developments across the midlands and shortlisted on the 2015 Construction News Specialist Awards in four categories.”

Winner of 2014 Building Awards: Contractor of the Year (up to £300m), O’Brien Contractors, has completed a hockey pitch resurfacing project at Eastbourne Hockey Club in East Sussex.

O’Brien’s 9 week contract involved; the removal of the existing 16 year old sand filled synthetic grass surface, the adjustment of existing sub base and the installation of a 5027 m² DOMO Hockey Xtreme MDC Ultra sand filled synthetic grass hockey pitch with inlaid lines.

Prior to installation, the appropriate sub base tests were conducted to ensure levels in each working area were in accordance with the specification.

The works, which took place within a live sports facility, also included surveying and making adjustments to the existing Lava/ Rubber Crumb Dynamic layer.

Steve Hillman, General Manager – Sports Division at O’Brien Contractors, said: “One of our key capabilities is our commitment to providing our clients with the most efficient and cost effective service available at all times.

The new hockey pitch contract is something we have been particularly proud to have won and has provided us with the opportunity to show case our sports pitch capabilities and our commitment to delivering total customer satisfaction.”

Established in 1958, O’Brien Construction is a second generation, family-run business that has gone from strength to strength and expanded into a range of new sectors. We are one of the first large civil engineering firms able to offer turnkey solutions for a range of sports pitch installations, delivering projects ranging from athletics tracks, football pitches though to hockey and rugby pitches.

To date, O’Brien has delivered projects for a range of top quality clients, including Jaguar Land Rover, Nestle, the National Trust, Morrisons, Aston University, Kier Construction, Wates and John Sisk.

For more information, visit www.OBrienContractors.co.uk

The pitch was officially opened by the Mayor of Eastbourne and England Ladies’ number-one hockey goalkeeper, Maddie Hinch.

Construction News Magazine – SME Spotlight 16/01/2015

With order books filling up and the financial situation for many businesses is looking rosy, it’s clear to see why 2015 is predicted to be the year when the recovery of the construction industry gets well under way. Looking towards the year ahead, there are a few key elements that we need to ensure take place in order to maintain a stable and prosperous market.

Above all else, investment in our current pool of workers and development of succession planning should take centre stage. Ensuring the upskilling of employees so that they contribute towards plugging the skills gap and helping to realise their career objectives is, a crucial factor in delivering continued business growth and improvement.

With 400,000 skills jobs lost in the construction industry during the recession and an estimated 400,000 due to be lost through retirement over the next five years, it is imperative that we put in place schemes to get the message to younger people at the grassroots level, demonstrating that careers in construction have a clear path to progression. By starting a drive towards recruiting more apprenticeships now, businesses will guarantee that in five years’ time they see the benefit of having a knowledgeable and confident professional who has been developed through their organisation.

The Health and Safety Executives’ revisions to CDM 2007, driven by the need to align the UK’s interpretation of CDM with the EU’s Temporary and Mobiles Construction Sites Directive (TMCSD), are expected to come into force during 2015. Whilst I support change which is designed to increase efficiency while reducing bureaucracy, we have an obligation to make sure the new regulations are implemented and remain mindful that the final outcome is a far safer environment for our staff to operate in.

The Government’s planning reforms, designed to make the system easier to implement and get the country building once again, have now been in operation for some three years. In many regions, like the Midlands, greater governance is required so that local authorities undertake their obligations and support neighbouring councils who have a land capacity issue. This will enable the unlocking of more land for much needed housing and employment to further boost the sector’s recovery. Should we see a change of leadership during the next election, any change in policy needs to be for the greater good, rather than a kneejerk reaction.

From SMEs to large blue chip organisations, we all have a commitment to guarantee that alongside our commercial aims, we take our responsibilities to the environment, our employees and the wider community more seriously than ever before. This should be the year where we introduce a record number of initiatives and introduce more efficient technology to ensure operations are as sustainable as possible.

O’Brien Contractors, winner of Construction News Awards 2014: Tomorrow’s Company, has partnered with leading European sports pitch specialist, GreenFields UK, for the installation of a new playing surface at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry.

The sports contractor secured the contract with GreenFields UK through its track-record of providing successful pitch installations for organisations, including: Oswestry School, Eastbourne Hockey Club, Kewford Eagles FC and Aston University.

The project at the Ricoh Arena involved site preparation works to remove the existing 8000m2 playing surface before GreenFields UK installed the new natural turf, farmed in the Netherlands. Works started on 5th December and was completed ready for Coventry City’s home league game with Fleetwood Town on 20th December.

Aviva Premier League side, London Wasps, had initially announced its intentions to replace the current pitch during the summer to provide a playing surface suitable for the demands of both rugby and football matches, however, following a consultation, the rugby club decided to lay an interim pitch to ensure both Coventry City and London Wasps had a surface required to give them the best chance of success.

O’Brien Contractors is the first and only large civil engineering firm able to offer turnkey solutions for a range of sports pitch installations, delivering projects ranging from athletics tracks, football pitches though to hockey and rugby pitches. This capability is all maintained in house – with no outsourcing required – by a team of experts with a proven track record of delivering design and build sports projects to a diverse range of exacting client specifications.

The sports installations that we deliver include natural sports pitches, such as those used for rugby, football and cricket, and synthetic and Multi Use Games Area (MUGA) pitches with surfaces suitable for just about every sport and user, from professional sports teams to schools and communities.