Category: News

In its highest valued-project to date, O’Brien Contractors has been sub-contracted by new customer, John Sisk and Sons, to deliver services for Nestlé UK’s £200 million extension to its NESCAFÉ factory in Tutbury, Derbyshire.

The Tutbury extension is currently the Nestle group’s largest construction project worldwide and for the first time will bring together all of Nestlé’s coffee production, including freeze dried, spray dried and pod technology, on one 30-acre site.

The 61-week project, which commences on 07 January 2013, will create 300 new jobs in the local area and involve the construction of 13 buildings and associated car parks. O’Brien Contractors will deliver substructures, foundations, drainage, storm water management systems, formation of access roads, ground remediation, foul and storm drainage, landscaping, service yards, floors and dock levellers.

Andy Foster, Project Manager at O’Brien Contractors, said: “This is a great opportunity for O’Brien to work with Nestlé, which is the area’s largest employer, on the extension of their NESCAFÉ factory.”

“As a company, we are committed to minimising this project’s impact on the local community and will be using ground solutions that prevent excessive movement of materials off site. This multi-million pound contract is a fantastic start to 2013 for O’Brien Contractors and we are delighted to have developed a collaborative relationship with Sisk and look forward to working with them to deliver a successful project for Nestlé.”

Midlands groundworks and civil engineering company O’Brien Contractors secured £1.8 million worth of contracts in October.

The latest contract wins for Midlands based O’Brien Contractors have been announced which include the construction of a new leisure facility with Britannia Construction, the construction of new healthcare facilities with A&H Construction and a double contract win in the education sector with Interserve.

O’Brien Contractors have been appointed by Britannia Construction to construct a new leisure facility in St Neots, Cambridgeshire. The new £8 million cinema and theatre complex will be built on a former recycling centre and will boast 6 screens along with other facilities such as restaurants and bars. The works are due to start shortly and will be completed by Spring 2013 providing over 200 jobs to the area.

Separately, O’Brien Contractors have begun works on a project being led by A&H Construction to construct new state of the art healthcare facilities in Telford. The £4 million new build project will provide the local community of Telford with a brand new medical practice and will enable the staff to deliver improved services to 12,500 registered patients.

October also saw a double contract win for O’Brien with long standing client Interserve where they have been appointed to work alongside the client on projects at Christ Church Primary School and Crocketts Primary School.
The contracts for the education sector will include foundations, storm water attenuation tanks, external works, landscaping and drainage works. Both Interserve contracts began at the end of October and will be completed in 14 weeks.

Managing Director, Peter O’Brien, said:
“These recent contract wins are a clear representation of the diverse range of projects that we work on. It is particularly encouraging to win not only repeat business but to also welcome new client A&H Construction to our growing client portfolio.”

O’Brien Contractors, a leading civil engineering and groundworks contractor, has been awarded the prestigious Achilles BuildingConfidence accreditation.

The Midlands-based contractor successfully reached the standards set out by Achilles UK for the BuildingConfidence accreditation following a recent on-site audit by industry-leading auditors.

Achilles developed BuildingConfidence as a supplier pre-qualification and accreditation service for the UK construction industry and it has quickly become recognised as the standard for supplier excellence. Its aim is to create sustainable procurement opportunities for business and reduce risk in the supply chain throughout the industry, and is already considered an invaluable tool by many industry-leading clients.

This impressive accolade demonstrates O’Brien’s commitment and vision for the company’s planned growth and management development strategy.

O’Brien’s Managing Director, Peter O’Brien, said: “This award is recognition of O’Brien’s excellence through high performance. Throughout the business we ensure that all of our processes and procedures work, not only for us but for our clients too. We aim to create long-term relationships with clients by offering them a seamless service across the board. We make sure that we deliver the best possible product to our clients, on time and within budget; essentially offering the smartest approach to construction.”

O’Brien is now part of an impressive supply chain offering clients the best in construction knowledge and skills.

Achilles clients include: Lend Lease, Kier Construction, Balfour Beatty, Shepherd, British Land, Skanska, McClaren Construction, John Sisk, Tarmac, Costain, Wolseley, Laing O’Rourke, Sir Robert McAlpine and Davis Langdon.

At last sport is high on the nation’s agenda with London 2012 approaching and everyone is talking about the provision of facilities.

Those who are in the business of managing sports facilities understand the need to procure the very best service providers. It is essential to receive first class design, quality and construction techniques that create a finished product which is ultimately easier to manage. To do this you need the right team on board.

Civil Roots

O’Brien Contractors Ltd has its roots in civil engineering, and with that comes a range of expertise and hi-tech techniques which are perfectly aligned to the business of producing quality and cost effective sports pitches for clients.

Ground Modelling

O’Brien Contractors Ltd offers a full range of technical services. By using ground modelling and laser levelling, O’Brien can help businesses save time and money on a project as well as reducing the carbon footprint of a development.

Aston University

O’Brien Contractors Ltd were brought on board at Aston University to design and build a five-a-side, all-weather, third generation synthetic sports pitch.

The project consisted of the site clearance and reduce level dig of a derelict and unused car park. The underside of the playing surface was made up of an underground finn drainage system covered with a free draining sub-base granular fill material. On top of this, O’Brien laid the latest Desso PS60 third generation synthetic sports surface. The pitch was surrounded by a five metre high welded mesh fence with lighting supplied by eight metre high tubular columns and associated CCTV surveillance equipment.

The project was delivered on time and to budget and by using the latest ground modelling techniques O’Brien was able to help the University to reuse the substrate already present on the development to correct the unsuitable profile of the site.

Excellent Feedback

O’Brien’s project manager, Stuart Chamberlain, said: “The feedback on this project has been excellent, with students and staff praising the natural feel of the playing surface along with its low maintenance requirements.”

Garry East, Director of Estates and Facilities, Aston University , said: “We were extremely impressed with O’Brien generally and with their on-site team specifically. They were a first class, responsive and helpful contractor, who dealt with matters first and discussed implications later. They at all times worked diligently, on time and within budget and were always willing to go that ‘extra mile’.

“The resulting sports pitch has been received very well by our Sports and Recreation Department, and the students that are using the facility – with positive comments regarding the feel and the way the surface plays.

“We would not hesitate to work with them again should the opportunity arise.”

Leading midlands civil engineering and groundworks contractor, O’Brien, has been appointed as Principal Contractor on a “Design and Build” contract for the construction of a synthetic “Mondo” 6 lane 400m IAAF and UK Athletics track with associated field facilities at Eastwood School, Leigh-on- Sea in Essex. The project also includes a full size FIFA compliant football pitch on the infield.

The construction involves reduced level excavation, “cut and fill” to formation with the disposal of 15000m3 of residual spoil being disposed off site, including associated drainage sub base build up and macadam civil works and the installation of long jump, triple jump, high jump, pole vault and circle for throwing events. The infield will be top soiled and seeded and marked accordingly.

The project is being overseen by a dedicated management team who have ensured that our own in house resources have been implemented and deployed to meet planned and programmed requirements and liaise with the clients on regular basis to ensure the clients wishes and expectations are being met and fulfilled.

This team is supported by the Head Office staff that is able to procure our specialised subcontractor for the Macadam works to meet the fine tolerances that are required on this project.

The project to date has been carried out to the satisfaction of the customer who has high expectations for this prestige project.

O’Brien Contractors are exceedingly proud to have successfully been awarded three ISO (Internal Organisation for Standardization) accreditations: 9001 Quality Management, 14001 Environmental Management and 18001 Occupational Health & Safety.

9001 Quality Management

We are committed to improving our processes, systems and procedures to reduce costs and increase efficiency, both within our business and our customers.

14001 Environmental Management

We have introduced a range of initiatives to ensure we minimise our negative impact on the environment, culiminating in us achieving ISO14001 accreditation. This commitment is not based solely on a desire to ‘do the right thing’, but on a belief that we must do this to be a successful business.

18001 Occupational Health & Safety

The health and safety of our team, our clients and the wider community is of paramount importance to us. To ensure our operations are as safe as possible we invest in on-going health and safety training and employ a full time Health and Safety Manager to oversee our operations.

O’Brien’s Safety Manager, Andy Foster, said: “O’Brien has worked hard to attain these impressive accreditations. As a successful company we take the quality of our workmanship, safety and impact of our work extremely seriously; continual improvement is always at the forefront of our thoughts. We believe these accreditations will only reinforce the importance of this message to our clients.”

Midlands-based specialist civil engineering and groundworks contractor, O’Brien has been awarded the £1.2 million contract to carry out infrastructure upgrade works at Aston University in Birmingham.

The Leamington Spa company will be principle contractor on the 26 week package which will involve the installation of services including district heating mains, high and low voltage electric, cold water and fire hydrant mains plus IT and communication cabling.

The services are to be supplied to the new high-rise student accommodation providing 2350 new rooms for students on the campus as part of the university’s redevelopment programme for which O’Brien previously carried out the £1.7 million Enabling Works package.

Stuart Chamberlain at O’Brien, said: “This is a great contract win for us. It’s a repeat work from an valued client, showing our strong commitment to client satisfaction and our companies flexible approach to our clients requirements.”

Work starts on the new phase in August.

Leading civil engineering and groundworks contractor, O’Brien, has successfully completed the biggest concrete pour in its 50 year history.  The work was carried out at Hanson UK in Leicester and comprised 1100m³ concrete over a 2200m² slab for a chamber dryer.

Tony Mitchell, Project Manager said: “This is unique to O’Briens due to the large amount of concrete poured and we believe the key to our success was being able to co-ordinate simultaneous concrete deliveries from five separate plants, while making sure that the traffic management was thoroughly organised.

The large quantity of concrete required 2 no 52m boom concrete pumps to maintain the required output and ensure that concrete was placed in the working day”.

The Hanson brick factory is a £54 million facility with the capacity to produce 100 million bricks a year. It also features a low energy, low waste production process, including a kiln heat recycling system to maximise heat recovery and reduce gas consumption.

The value of O’Brien Contractors’ work is £4.75 over a 30 week period.

Leading midlands civil engineering and groundworks contractor, O’Brien, have recently been awarded a £1.3 million Enabling works package at Aston University in Birmingham.

The contractor will undertake the Project as Principal Contractor for new client, Aston Student Villages, set up to provide a new 3000 rooms, high rise student accommodation within the existing University campus.

The 20 week enabling works package consists of:

• The diversion of existing services currently running through the proposed development. These services, both private and owned by the statutory undertakers, include high and low voltage electric, telecommunication including fibre optic, gas and water mains;
• Road alterations and new adoptable 278 highway works to provide the new infrastructure to the proposed development;
• Demolition of existing properties currently on the site and ground remediation to the area beneath the two proposed blocks to allow future construction works to take place.

The ground remediation involves excavating 9000m3 of material, processing it to meet specification requirements and reinstating the resulting material to meet the compaction criteria laid down for end use.

Furthermore, there is requirement to carryout bulk earthworks of 8000m3 of reduced level dig and disposal off site and subsequent capping of the formation with granular material prior to the building contractor taking possession of the site.

Leading groundworks and civil engineering contractor, O’Brien, are currently undertaking work at Hanson Brickworks, Measham, as part of a recently acquired £4.75million contract with existing client SDC. The Leicestershire-based project involves the construction of a new ‘super’ brick manufacturing plant for Hanson Building Products. O’Brien’s 30-week contract period includes enabling works, installation of large diameter storm drainage, substructures, superstructures and external works.

Project Manager Stuart Chamberlain commented: “Hanson Brickworks is an excellent opportunity for O’Brien Contractors to demonstrate the full range of our services. Specialist manufacturing plants demand equally specialist construction, and our strong team and technology will ensure that this is achieved. We are delighted to continue our ongoing successful working relationship with SDC as Principal Contractor”.

Over 20,000m2 of existing concrete and tarmac hardstandings will be lifted and crushed for use as a piling mat and capping, before bulk earthworks reduce level dig in excess of 15,000m3 to complete the enabling works for the project. The substructure will then be created by placing 10,000m3 of structural concrete and pad foundations with 800 tonnes of reinforcement, before laying machine bases and 22,000m2 of floor slab.

Four bunker cells, each consisting of 14m high reinforced concrete walls will be constructed to form the superstructure of the Hanson Brickworks, and final external works will consist of 10,000m3 of bulk earthworks, installing over 750m of attenuation storm drainage ranging from 600mm to 1200mm diameter plus 10,000m2 of concrete road and hardstanding.

O’Brien Contractors’ Managing Director, Peter O’Brien, commented: “Our expertise in the construction of specialist projects gives our clients the valuable peace of mind so essential with this type of development. Significant projects such as Hanson Brickworks are an opportunity for O’Brien Contractors to use the expertise we have acquired over 50 years to exceed our clients’ expectations.”