Category: Press Release

We have had our carbon footprint verified by TÜV UK Ltd to the ISO 14064-3:2006 standard across our operations.

Verification to ISO 14064, is one of the most effective ways to measure, quantify and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The audit showed that, when normalised against turnover (£17m in 2014 and £28m in 2015), we had significantly reduced our usage of resources year-on-year and continually exceeded target.

In order to achieve our emissions reduction goal, we developed a strategy based on:

• Investing and upgrading and operating the most efficient plant and technology available.
• Providing staff with training on how to improve their driving to reduce fuel consumption.
• Investing an average of £140k per year on upgrading its fleet of vehicles to ensure that they are the most efficient and low-emission models available.
• Offering shuttle buses to promote vehicle pooling for staff working on our construction sites.

Vicki O’Brien, O’Brien Contractors, said: “We are very much committed to minimising the impact of our activities on the environment and all stakeholders, in order to operate a business that is safe, sustainable and socially responsible. Verifying our footprint to an International standard will serve as a benchmark against to help us achieve our goal of continuously reducing our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.”

Our commitment to environmental improvement also saw us become the first to achieve ISO 14001 certification among our core rivals in the civil engineering sector.

Our processes and procedures have also been audited and validated to ISO 9001 for quality and OHSAS 18001, CHAS, Achilles BuildingConfidence (5-star rating) and Achilles RISQS for health and safety.

Vicki added: “By raising our standards, we have been able to operate more akin with our clients, and target major projects with greater contract values, or strategic divisions, placing greater focus on delivery and quality, not just price.”

We have been appointed JCT Design and Build subcontractor for the delivery of new facilities at Broxhill Sports Centre in Romford by local contractor Valuegrade.

The scheme is part of Havering Council’s vision to provide the community with exciting new sports facilities that will include a new full sized 3G football pitch designed and constructed to meet the requirements of the FIFA Quality Concept, multi-use games area along with a polymeric sprint track and car park.

Our work will include earthworks remodelling of the site to form a plateau level ready for the installation work.

O’Brien Sports prides itself on being at the forefront of technology and has invested in and operated state-of-the-art GPS and laser-guided earthworks plant for some time.

Mick O’Brien, Director, O’Brien Sports, who will manage the project, said: “Our earthworks team provide accurate calculation of material quantities, including those for cut to fill scenarios, enabling us to deliver clear, accurate and reliable information and advice to clients, before, during and after contracts.”

“Where possible, we create a design that incorporates as much of the site material into the project, reducing the need to dispose of materials to landfill. This helps us offer our clients the best possible price, whilst also minimising our environmental impact.”

“Valuegrade is a highly regarded main contractor built on a reputation of delivering quality and trust. We are delighted that they recognised our sports capabilities for the installation of this scheme.”

Tim Storrar, Valuegrade, said: “We are looking forward to collaborating with O’Brien’s and believe the time spent prior to work commencing on site has been extremely valuable with regards to managing out the problems that are normally associated with these types of schemes.”

O’Brien Sports offer 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

Midlands Division rugby team, Leamington Rugby Football Club, has unveiled O’Brien Contractors as the shirt sponsor for the 2016/2017 season.

O’Brien Contractors, a specialist provider of civil engineering, groundworks and sports pitch construction services, has agreed to sponsor the club for a fourth consecutive year.

Established in 1926, Leamington Rugby Football Club promotes 4 men’s senior teams, 4 ladies’ netball teams, 4 junior teams and 6 mini teams. The senior 1st XV men’s team play in the Midlands 2 West (South) division.

Stuart Chamberlain, Director, O’Brien Contractors, said: “Charity and the community is very much at the heart of our business and through our financial success, we actively engage with many local groups to support them in their activities.”

“Leamington RFC provides many local people, of all ages, with the opportunity to take part in sport and we are delighted to continue our partnership with the rugby club by sponsoring their shirt once again. We wish them well for the coming season.”

The Department of Health recently published its ‘Childhood obesity: a plan for action’ designed to help reduce childhood obesity through healthier choices.

The report suggests a number of measures, including: introducing a levy on soft drinks, helping businesses make their products healthier through innovation and reducing sugar in products by 20%.

Another recommendation says that every primary school pupil should engage in at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity every day – 30 minutes delivered in school, with parents and carers responsible for the remaining 30 minutes.

With many children spending their free time in front of a screen and far less on hands-on activity, it is understandable why almost a third of 2 to 15 year old children are classed as overweight or obese.

The new initiative will provide children with regular exercise and contribute to their overall physical health. They will also learn valuable social and teamwork skills.

Below are some of the great benefits participation in team sports can bring to young children:

• #1 – Builds confidence
  Children have the opportunity to really enjoy an activity that they are good at. They can also practice and exercise their skills, learn their strengths, develop their weaknesses and gain greater self-awareness. It’s a real confidence booster.

• #2 – Try their best
  When playing a team sport, children gain the experience of winning and losing and how to deal with both emotions. They also learn that things are not going to go their way all of the time, but all that’s important is that they tried their best.

• #3 – Helps develop relationships
  For many children, making friends can be quite a challenge. By taking part in a team sport, children have many opportunities to practice and develop their social skills and build friendships with their peers and coaches.

• #4 – Teaches respect
  Through team sport, kids learn the importance of respecting authoritative figures, like their coaches and referees, but also the opposition and their teammates.

• #5 – Provides a platform to excel
  Getting involved in a sport provides children with the platform to realise their sporting goals and ambitions. Whether they go on to become the next Olympian or just take part for fun, it can stay with them for life.

• #6 – Develop vital communication skills
  Team sport places children in situations where they need to communicate with their peers and coaches – who may or may not be their friends. This can help them become more sociable in different environments and overcome shyness.

Finding a trusted partner

In order to maximise your budget and deliver high quality sports facilities, you need to engage with a specialist whose team of experts has a proven track record in designing and building sports projects to a diverse range of exacting client specifications.

O’Brien Sports delivers natural sports pitches used for rugby, football and cricket. It also supplies synthetic and Multi Use Games Area pitches, with surfaces suitable for just about every sport and user – from professional sports teams to schools and communities.

Our services

O’Brien Sports 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 turf sports pitches
• Total solutions for sports pitches
• Infrastructure, including access roads and car parks

To discuss how you can create the right sporting environment for young people in your community, contact us: Tel: 01926 319 724 Email: info@obriencontractors.co.uk

We have been recognised for our commitment to sustainability with a coveted Bronze award at the International Green Apple Awards for the Built Environment and Architectural Heritage 2016. This is the second time in 3 years we have received this recognition.

Lining up against some much larger companies, including Kier Construction, Carillion/Morgan Sindall JV and Skanska, the prestigious title was awarded for, “clearly demonstrating a drive towards sustainable development.”

The judges also singled out our management for demonstrating incredible foresight by “choosing to invest and diversify the business during the recession while starting to feel the pinch, resulting in strong financial results during the past six years.”

This enabled us to invest in key areas of the business, including training and apprentices, providing young people with a career path in construction and upskilling current employees by providing them with 3.78 training days on average; and £4.4m in plant and equipment, to push environmental and efficiency savings across projects.

Other areas where we were commended, include our continual investment in management systems audited and validated to ISO14001, ISO9001, OHSAS18001 and Achilles BuildingConfidence (5-star rating) accreditation, which ensures we deliver high standards of quality and compliance in health and safety and the environment.

We achieved this while improving their environmental performance with such measures as:

• Going paperless and greening our fleet.
• Sponsoring a wealth of community support initiatives, including: ILEAP, Warwickshire Road Safety, British Blind for Sport, and The Alzheimer’s Society.
• Investing £220k in GPS technology and developing an earthworks modelling team that prevented 75,000m3 of material from going to landfill.

Peter O’Brien, Managing Director at O’Brien Contractors, said: “This award highlights the benefits we bring to the region and our customers by implementing best practices benchmarked against environmental, quality and health and safety performance. We are thrilled our commitment to sustainable development has been recognised with an award.”

We have scooped our third RoSPA Occupational Health and Safety Gold award.

The RoSPA Awards is celebrating 60 years of presenting highly-regarded and sought after accolades to businesses and organisations which have shown commitment to accident and ill-health prevention.

The prestigious title is awarded for demonstrating overarching occupational health and safety management, including: strategic vision, risk assessment, workforce involvement and training.

Julia Small, RoSPA’s head of awards and events, said: “To win an award at such a highly-regarded event as the RoSPA Awards is a great achievement for O’Brien Contractors. It recognises their commitment to maintaining an excellent health and safety record and raises the bar for other organisations to aspire to. We offer them our congratulations.”

The company, based in Leamington Spa, achieved gold in recognition of the commitment to continuous improvement in protecting its staff, subcontractors and the local public, resulting in:

• Staff receiving an average of 3.78 training days – mainly for health and safety
• 100% of site operatives completing a CSCS safety course and holding a CSCS card
• 80% of site operatives qualified to NVQ 2+ standard

However, the greatest success came from across the eight high profile schemes secured last year, including: New Assay Office, Longbridge Town Centre Phase II, Number One City Locks, New Cross Hospital, Aston Student Villages, Burton Hockey Club, i54 Manufacturing Facility and Lyons Park, all achieving zero accidents spanning 211,786 man hours.

Peter O’Brien, Managing Director, O’Brien Contractors, said: “Winning three straight Gold awards is a real achievement and recognises the commitment and effort applied by our team to ensure high standards are maintained across all of our sites.”

World Cup winner and British and Irish Lions legend Lawrence Dallaglio, OBE, cut the first turf and officially marked the beginning of construction work on Warden Park Academy’s full size 3G multi-use sports pitch last week.

The installation is part of a continual investment by the academy to build on its 60 years of District, County and national reputation for sporting excellence.

The new playing surface is being constructed in collaboration with Notts Sports, leading specialist in the design, advice and supply of artificial turf for multi-sports and playgrounds.

O’Brien will install a 6,052m2 3G FIFA 1 star compliant surface, underground perimeter and lateral drains, granular unbound base, an airlastic loadbearing geotextile and shockpad, kerb edgings, perimeter fencing and floodlighting.

Steve Hillman, General Manager, O’Brien Sports, said: “We are absolutely delighted to have secured the project. The new pitch will provide students and the local community with the opportunity to participate in frequent sports activities; building confidence, self-esteem, academic excellence, character building, but also give them a platform to realise their sporting goals and ambitions.”

O’Brien Sports delivers natural sports pitches, such as those used for rugby, football and cricket. It also supplies synthetic and Multi Use Games Area pitches, with surfaces suitable for just about every sport and user – from professional sports teams to schools, sports clubs and communities.

Recent projects include a synthetic grass hockey pitch for Burton Hockey Club and a 3G synthetic grass football pitch – constructed to meet FIFA requirements – for Worthing Football Club.

We have been chosen to work on the University of Birmingham’s campus expansion plans.

The two projects are part of a wider drive by the University to invest close to £500 million, over a five year period, to enhance the student experience on its Edgbaston campus.

Appointed as principal contractor by the University, we have been selected to work on a design and build contract for the construction of an 800m footpath/cycle way from the main campus to the main student residence village, the Vale, along with associated section 278 works and soft landscaping.

The second scheme will see us install hard and soft landscaping around the prestigious new library.

The contracts build on our tradition of supporting the top universities across the Midlands with their major campus upgrades, following 8 years working with Aston University to develop their Student Villages complex and assisting Birmingham City University’s relocation to Eastside.

Stuart Chamberlain, Director, said: “University of Birmingham is Internationally acclaimed with a reputation spanning over 100 years. We are absolutely delighted to be chosen to work on their campus redevelopment – one of the most high profile schemes taking place in Birmingham.”

Established in 1958, O’Brien Contractors is a Midlands-based provider of civil engineering, design and build and groundworks services, as well as turnkey sports pitch solutions.

Key projects and customers include the Nestlé factory with John Sisk; the Longbridge Marks & Spencer store with Morgan Sindall; and the Thunderbird 2 retail distribution centre with Sir Robert McAlpine.

Stuart Chamberlain added: “85% of our projects now come from repeat business and recommendations, but we know that it’s not enough to be satisfied with where we currently are. So we continually improve by developing our people and processes, and challenge ourselves to constantly re-evaluate our core competencies. By doing this we ensure that we understand our clients’ needs, concerns and pressures more completely than our competitors.”

Leading groundworks and civil engineering specialist, O’Brien Contractors, has been named by Readie Construction as the partner to work on MEPC’s Silverstone Park development.

The latest phase of the high-performance technology business park will enable new businesses to join a growing motor sport community, including eight of the 11 F1 constructor teams and many supply chain companies that serve the motorsport industry.

Appointed by principal contractor, Readie Construction, O’Brien has secured a design and build contract for the installation of roads, sewers and services.

Peter O’Brien, Managing Director, said: “We are delighted to welcome Readie Construction to our portfolio of high profile clients. It is always refreshing to work with likeminded businesses with a reputation of providing the highest standards in terms of quality, health and safety and the environment. We are very much looking forward to forging a strong and long-term relationship with them.”

O’Brien Contractors has built up a presence in the Northamptonshire area having provided civil engineering support on a number of schemes, including: Thunderbird 2 in Kettering – a 98,700 square meter distribution centre for Sir Robert McAlpine and Northampton College – a state of the art college building for SDC.

Established in 1958, O’Brien Contractors is a second generation, family-run business that has gone from strength to strength and expanded into a range of new sectors.

From commercial units and hospital facilities, to industrial units, schools, universities, highways and commercial housing developments, O’Brien’s extensive experience consistently leads to the delivery of class-leading solutions.

MEPC, the developer behind Silverstone Park, has aspirations to create more than 8,000 new jobs and accommodate 200 businesses at the site over the next 10 years.

With a long-established track record of delivering expert civil engineering solutions across the Midlands, we are proud to be named SME of the Year at the West Midlands Celebrating Construction Awards 2016.

We scooped the highly acclaimed award for investing in our people, focussing on improving customer satisfaction and adopting industry best practises across all areas of the business. We were also praised for our commitment to sustainability and maintaining an above industry record for health and safety.

Peter O’Brien, Managing Director, said: “A fundamental element of our success has been the commitment we’ve placed to the Midlands. We believe by focussing on the region, we can forge strong and long-lasting relationships with clients and our supply chain facilitating greater collaboration, essential in delivering projects successfully.”

Established in 1958, O’Brien has partnered with the region’s leading industry clients, including: Morgan Sindall, Aston University, John Sisk & Son, Kier Group and University of Birmingham.

Peter added: “It’s not just about consolidating your efforts into one area. We have continually invested back into the business so that we have a highly talented and knowledgeable team, operate the most efficient plant and technology, and benchmark against industry best practices, like Achilles BuildingConfidence – having achieved a 5-star rating in 2014. This regional award recognises the hard work and commitment of the whole O’Brien team.”