Tag: civil engineering

We have been shortlisted in the Specialist Contractor of the Year and Sustainable Project of the Year categories for the 2015 Builder and Engineer Awards.

The awards are designed to reward the hard work and creativity of those working in the industry.

The Sustainable Project of the Year accolade is for Nestle’s £200m coffee manufacturing facility, codenamed Project Dove, which saw us deliver an £11m groundworks and civil engineering package.

The judges will be looking for evidence that the winning project has considered the impact on the environment and has contemplated sustainability. With 2012 the wettest year on record, we were presented with a site containing 40,000m3 of spoil not suitable for re-use. The original solution our engineer had designed was no longer viable.

To overcome this, we implemented a soil remediation strategy that subsequently cut costs by £800k, reduced lorry movements by c7,000 saving 15 tonnes CO2, sent no spoil to landfill and reduced imported stone by 70%. We also achieved a zero accident performance with in excess of 90,000 man hours worked and created a safer stable site for ongoing construction work.

The Specialist Contractor of the Year award recognises businesses that have excelled by delivering exceptional performance, increased turnover, invested in innovation, added value to its’ clients and improved health and safety standards. During 2014/2015, we grew turnover by 59.98%, from £17.5m to £28.03m, maintained our accident rates well below industry average, invested £2.4m in new state-of-the-art plant and equipment and delivered 9 multi-million pound contracts which accounted for our 2014 turnover.

The winners will be announced at the Builder and Engineer Awards on Thursday 19^th November at the Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester.

We have been shortlisted in the Property and Regeneration category for the 2015 Birmingham Post Business Awards.

The winner will be the company that has demonstrated exceptional progress over the last year by growing financially and expanding the services they offer to clients. We have achieved a 59.98% increase in turnover and significantly invested in our earthworks service. During 2014/2015, we spent £220k in GPS technology and appointed an Engineering Manager and Assistant Project Manager to provide clients with the most efficient earthworks solutions, helping them reduce waste and cost. Across projects in Birmingham, our solution has prevented 27,000m3 of material from being taken to landfill, equating to:

• Avoided c.3000 of lorry movements across Birmingham.
• Saving 23T CO2 and fuel for 90,000 miles of 20 tonne lorry haulage, leading to less pollution in the atmosphere.

Other criteria that the company will be judged on include job creation, investment in equipment and infrastructure, industry recognition, accreditation, accolades, service innovation, strong commitment to the region and customer satisfaction.

In our submission we have demonstrated excellence and improvements in all of these categories.

Managing Director, Peter O’Brien said: “We are delighted to have been shortlisted in this category. We are a Midlands based company and committed to this geographical area, a strategy that will ensure we continue to deliver excellent projects for our customers and provide them with the best service for the best value.”

The achievements that have resulted in the shortlisting for this award include:

• Turnover increased by 59.98%, from £17.5m to £28.03m.
• Delivered 9 multi-million pound contracts which accounted for our 2014 turnover.
• Recruited 5 apprentices from the Birmingham area.
• Health and Safety: Maintained our accident rates well below industry average.
• Awarded consecutive ROSPA gold accolade.
• Invested £2.4m in plant and equipment.

The winners will be announced at the Birmingham Post Business Awards on Thursday 12^th November at the International Convention Centre, Birmingham.

We have  been appointed to work on Perry Beeches the Academy Trust’s fifth highly-acclaimed free school in Small Heath, Birmingham.

The delivery of a £10 million primary and secondary school facility at the former Virgin Media Office Building and adjacent industrial units will feature a 3 storey extension, sports hall, football pitch, MUGA and car parking.

Appointed by principal contractor, Morgan Sindall, we will deliver earthworks and a host of ground works – including foundations, drainage and associated works.

Morgan Sindall is a leading UK construction, infrastructure and design company and our Operations Manager, Tony Mitchell, sees the new contract as an endorsement of the services provided to them at St. Modwen’s Longbridge Town Centre Phase 2 in Birmingham: “We are delighted to be working with Morgan Sindall on this important education project in Birmingham. The past year has seen us work closely with Morgan Sindall, fully understanding their standards, philosophy and objectives and we hope Perry Beeches V will strengthen our relationship further.”

We will draw on our technical expertise, which includes state-of-the-art GPS controlled surveying equipment and machinery, to deliver groundworks services in the most efficient method possible and with minimal waste.

“Our team is well-versed at delivering high-grade education facilities in a live environment having provided civil engineering services on 9 schools as part of the Priority School Building Programme in Coventry and this experience will be pivotal in the execution of the scheme.”

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. Receiving the prestigious five star rating for Achilles BuildingConfidence accreditation in 2014 means O’Brien sits alongside leading names in the construction sector as suppliers of excellent quality work with a commitment to growth and sustainability.

Key projects and customers include the Nestlé factory and Number One City Locks residential building both with John Sisk & Son; Longbridge Town Centre Phase 2 with Morgan Sindall; Aston Student Village for Aston University; and the Primark retail distribution centre with Sir Robert McAlpine.

Picture Caption: Perdip Mann, Secondary Headteacher, Perry Beeches V School, Caz Brasenell, Primary Headteacher, Perry Beeches V School and Tony Fitzgerald, Project Manager, Morgan Sindall.

Since its formation in 1958 by Tom O’Brien, the father of current directors Peter and Mick, specialist civil engineering and groundworks company O’Brien Contractors, based in Leamington Spa has been at the forefront of embracing new technology.

For Peter and Mick O’Brien, a focus on developing the use of Trimble machine control systems since the late 1990s, has seen the business grow its capabilities across its mixed fleet of excavators and dozers.

Having recently trialled the latest machine control technology on a compactor with Trimble solutions provider SITECH UK and Ireland, Mick O’Brien has a clear focus on how O’Brien Contractors will continue to take advantage of the technology to maximise productivity, as he explains: “From the very early stages of machine control, we recognised the commercial advantages it could offer us as a business, investing time with Trimble to develop the early solutions.

“It has been this long term journey, now continuing with Trimble dealer, SITECH which has seen us build our fleet to incorporate six dozers, twelve excavators and more recently trial the latest in compactor technology.

“For me, most people looking at machine control tend to focus onsite, whereas through our experience we know the real value lies in preparation in the office, prior to starting a job. This is why a few years ago we employed a dedicated machine control specialist. From tender stage, he liaises with our estimating team to work out volumes and look at the overall project, to see where value-engineering opportunities exist, carrying this work through when the project starts.

Even though this is a lot of investment in time before you are even awarded a job, it ultimately contributes towards a greater understanding of the project which leads to improved planning. With clients also wanting us to react very quickly when we are awarded projects, our machine control expert has the capabilities to model the earthworks required and feed this information directly into the machines, even when they are on route to site.

“So instead of engineers being dispatched to do the setting out, the machines can be operating within minutes of arriving at the job.  Even if the earthworks models change as the project moves forward, we can send the updated drawings and technical data straight to the machine.

“Of course the key to making this work is the interaction between operator and machine and this is why our expert is also tasked with training and supporting our drivers, with help from SITECH. Interestingly, you may think that machine control would be harder to introduce to older operators, but this is just not the case, as our most experienced people are in their 60’s and have found it very simple to make the transition.

“Having recently worked with SITECH to trial a compactor with machine control, I can definitely see how we can continue to expand our machine control fleet and capabilities. But for me the next step is all about utilising two-way communications, by receiving and processing data from individual machines activities.

“For our business this will be extremely important, as our clients expect us to report on site progress and this can be done in the future without leaving the office. For example, in the last 12 months we have kitted out eight excavators with machine control and can now receive data from the machines activity.

By knowing just how much of the workload each machine has achieved and the time taken, we can plan activity much better, keeping the job on track. Equally because of the partnership we have with SITECH, for certain jobs, we may choose to hire in equipment for the duration. The benefit of this approach is that we can still integrate these machines with our head office, by hiring equipment from SITECH and fitting it to the hired machine.

“I definitely think we will now see much more demand for information on earthworks from main contractors, especially as more people are challenged to meet carbon targets. In my opinion, even when you compare older machines with newer fuel efficient models, if you get machine control right and therefore the job right, it will have a much bigger impact on fuel efficiency than simply operating a new machine.”

We are pleased to announce we have been awarded our second Gold award for Occupational Health and Safety from the UK’s Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA).

The internationally recognised RoSPA Health and Safety Awards provide businesses and organisations of all types and sizes with an opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to continuous improvement in accident and ill health prevention at work.

Mick O’Brien, O’Brien Contractors’ Health and Safety Director, said: “Receiving the Gold award for Occupational Health and Safety from RoSPA is testament to the commitment we place to ensure the safety of our staff by constantly striving to raise awareness of health and safety throughout the business.”

The Gold award follows another successful year which has seen an increase in the size of our projects and workforce, matched by further investment both in new plant and in ongoing training and development programmes so that our employees are competent to work safely.

“We feel it is vital companies, and especially the construction industry, protect their employees by providing healthy and safe working conditions and by minimising the risk of accident or injury to employees and sub-contractors, as well as members of the public that may be affected by their work.”

In addition to our rigorous safety policies, our industry-leading standards have been recognised with occupational health and safety accreditations ranging from OHSAS 18001 to CHAS, Achilles Building Confidence (5 Star Rating) and Achilles Link-Up.

David Rawlins, RoSPA’s awards manager, said: “The RoSPA Awards encourage improvement in occupational health and safety management. Organisations that gain recognition for their health and safety management systems, such as O’Brien Contractors Limited, contribute to raising standards overall and we congratulate them.”

We are proud to announce that we have been named ‘Company of the Year’ and also received the ‘Property and Regeneration’ title at the Coventry Telegraph Business Awards 2015.

Following on from winning Specialist Contractor of the Year in the Construction News Specialist Awards 2015, the accolades provide further recognition for creating a five year strategic plan in response to the recession, a strong investment in training our people, diversifying into new markets and targeting higher value projects.

In 2009, with the recession taking hold and the company retracting by 40%, our directors embarked on developing a strategy to enable the business to see unimaginable growth: with an order book of £18m already secured for 2015, the outlook looks even brighter, with turnover set to increase to £32m for 2015/2016.

Coventry Telegraph editor Keith Perry said: “Judging the Coventry Telegraph Business Awards was really difficult this year because of the strength and depth of the entries we receive gets better every year.

“However, once we had debated long and hard about the winners for each category it was a unanimous decision to choose O’Brien Contractors for the prestigious Company of the Year accolade.

“O’Brien Contractors showed all the qualities we needed to see, with innovation and sustainable growth in a very competitive and challenging sector and a firm commitment to their staff and the region. They are worthy winners.”

Commenting on the award success, Peter O’Brien, Managing Director, O’Brien Contractors said: “Receiving the prestigious Company of the Year and Property and Regeneration awards is credit to everyone who has been involved in the business, from the start of the economic down-turn, when we set out on our diversification journey.”

“We viewed the recession as an opportunity and planned for the subsequent upturn. In a downturn, clients are less active, they are more receptive to changes in their supply chain as they are more focused on value.”

Key to the success has been a focus on building stronger customer relationships by ensuring on every project, a Director has an overseeing role and assists the project delivery team.

In addition to our financial success, we have invested £4 million in new plant, technology and training programmes, delivering on our commitment to improve efficiency and reduce ongoing costs for our clients.

Peter O’Brien added: “We found out what organisations didn’t like about their supply chains and repositioned our business approach, aligned with their requirements. This has enabled us to understand their needs and challenges better, so that we can provide them with tailored solutions, greater operational efficiency and a higher return on investment. In many ways, the recession was good for us.”

“We are naturally delighted to receive the awards and look forward to delivering further projects across the region, based on a commitment of providing the highest customer service and excellent quality work to our clients.”

Established in 1958, we are a trusted name in the Midlands construction industry, providing 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, Accident and Emergency Centre, New Cross Hospital for Kier Construction and SFA Beacon Barracks (Borona) for Lovell.

We are proud to announce that we have sponsored the Construction Consultancy of the Year category at this year’s Construction News Awards.

We’ve a special affiliation with the awards, having been crowned Specialist Contractor of the Year (turnover up to £25m) in the Construction News Specialists Awards 2015 and ‘Tomorrow’s Company’ in the Construction News Awards 2014.

Explaining the decision to sponsor the category, Phil Griffiths, O’Brien Contractors, Commercial Director, said: “The awards provide the perfect opportunity to celebrate the outstanding achievements made by the construction industry during 2014. From the construction site up to the boardroom, everyone across all levels of a successful team, who have excelled on strategy, vision, innovation and quality during the last year, is recognised.”

The Construction Consultancy of the Year finalists, include: Capita, EC Harris, Hill International, Inc., Mace, Mott MacDonald, Pick Everard, RISE Management Consulting and Turner & Townsend.

Phil Griffiths added: “Having previously received recognition for our business success and innovation through a number of industry awards, including Construction News, we felt it was vital for the business to sponsor this initiative and play a leading role in recognising construction excellence.”

The event is being held at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London on June 30^th and is expected to attract in the region of 1,300 industry leaders to celebrate their achievements.

“This years’ finalists look to be of a very high calibre and we congratulate them all, especially those in our sponsored category, on making the final stages against some strong opposition.”

We’re delighted to announce that we have presented the Stratford-upon-Avon-based, ILEAP Charity, with a generous donation to provide four assisted holidays for disabled people with learning difficulties.

Operating in South Warwickshire, ILEAP Charity supports people aged from 4 years and upwards by organising children, youth and adult leisure activity programmes for their members who have a mild / moderate learning disability.

Among the holiday opportunities organised, there is a three night stay in Bournemouth for 8 people and 4 staff, staying in fully accessible sea front accommodation at Bournemouth University Student Village. The location will provide the opportunity to take advantage of all the traditional sea side activities and enable ILEAP Charity to work with its’ members on promoting independence through skills for living type activities.

Additionally, the charity has also organised a two night stay in Woodhouse Eves in Leicestershire, where 12 people and 6 staff will enjoy a fun filled weekend with their friends, taking part in 2 specialist activities of orienteering and archery, followed by a BBQ and Party.

Peter Bazeley, Manager, ILEAP Charity, said: “Thanks to the donation from O’Brien Contractors, we have been able to subsidise these opportunities, making them excellent value and affordable to the majority. On behalf of everyone at ILEAP, we would like to thank O’Brien for thinking of us and for their generous support.”

“As a small Charity we rely on grants and donations so that children and adults with Additional Needs, can take part in their chosen leisure pursuits, in the knowledge that they will be safe and supported. This donation will help us to empower our members so that they have the same opportunities as their non-disabled peers during their leisure time.” added Peter Bazeley.

Two further breaks have also been organised, including a Lads weekend away for 10 and 4 staff to a purpose built activity centre in Shropshire, where the group will enjoy a camp fire and indoor caving, abseiling and rock climbing and an outdoor pursuits weekend for a party of 12 and 6 staff to a purpose built activity centre with all food and accommodation and 4 specialist outdoor pursuit activities.

One of our Directors, Stuart Chamberlain, said: “Over the years, O’Brien Contractors has been fortunate to have great success and we feel it is important that we give back to the community whenever possible. We are very pleased to be able to support ILEAP Charity, who provides a fantastic service to disabled people.”

If you would like to make a donation to the ILEAP Charity you can do so easily at www.justgiving.com/ileap or by e-mailing ileap@stratford-dc.gov.uk. For further information please visit www.ileap.co.uk for details.

Leading civil engineering and groundworks company, O’Brien Contractors, has launched a work experience programme to provide school-leavers with an insight into careers in the construction industry.

The new scheme is designed to provide young local job seekers with practical experience and skills that cannot be taught in a classroom. It will also offer them a sense of belief, demonstrate that they can be valuable members of a working team, but most importantly, provide them with a passage into an apprenticeship scheme or employment.

The latest Government statistics have found that across the UK, 963,000 people aged 16-24 are not in employment, education or attending a training scheme, with 61% classed as unemployed. It has therefore never been more important to help younger people get a foot on the employment ladder, through work experience and apprenticeship schemes.

Tony Mitchell, Operations Manager, O’Brien Contractors, said: “The company has been fortunate to have great success over the years and we are keen to ensure we give back to the community whenever possible.”

“We have set up the programme to help and inspire young job seekers in their pursuit of employment. Employers look at experience gained when interviewing potential new members of staff and attending a work experience programme will make their credentials stand out.” said Tony Mitchell.

Each placement delivers high quality on-site experience related to the person’s training requirements. They are assigned to a site supervisor, who mentors them passing on the relevant skills, introduces them to the structure of working life and demonstrates the value of working in this sector.

At the end of the week, trainees come away with a genuine learning experience, highly motivated and a better awareness of their career aspirations.

Tony Mitchell, Operations Manager, O’Brien Contractors, said: “During the recession, 400,000 skilled jobs were lost in the construction industry and an estimated 400,000 are due to go through retirement over the next five years.”

“We feel it is crucial that the industry creates more schemes, like our work experience programme, to offer hands on experience to younger people at the grassroots level and get them interested in a career in construction.”

Louis Gray from Central Construction Training was the first pupil enrolled on the scheme and experienced a week on-site at the Accident and Emergency development at New Cross Hospital, Wolverhampton. Louis said: “I found the work experience programme very helpful and it gave me a better understanding of what I can expect from a career in construction.  I have learnt so much from my site supervisor in just one week and I feel inspired to continue developing my skills and apply them in a career in construction.”

A second-generation, family-run business with close to 60 years of experience in civil engineering and groundworks, O’Brien Contractors is a trusted name in the Midlands construction industry.

Ambitious and forward-thinking, O’Brien believes that a strong investment in its people and technology are vital to help it to stand out from the crowd and be recognised as a leader in its field.

This has proven to be a winning approach, as O’Brien has been recognised with a host of national industry awards, including most recently being named ‘Specialist Contractor of the Year (turnover up to £25m)’ and ‘Tomorrow’s Company’ by Construction News; and ‘Contractor of the Year up to £300 million’ by Building Magazine.

O’Brien provides a catalogue of construction facilities, ranging from full design and build capabilities for projects up to £11 million, 3G sports pitches and specialist plant hire.

Over the last 12 months, O’Brien has completed 29 projects across the Midlands and continues to grow its portfolio on high-profile schemes, including the £200 million Nestlé Factory in Derbyshire and a £7 million project for Jaguar Land Rover.

New partnerships have strengthened the business and during 2014, O’Brien Contractors were appointed by principal contractor, Morgan Sindall, to deliver groundworks for the second phase of St. Modwen’s £100m regeneration of Longbridge; and also partnered with Sir Robert McAlpine for groundworks at LondonMetric Property’s £77m Thunderbird 2 scheme – a 98,700 m2 distribution centre near Kettering.

The relationship formed at Nestle’s new £200m coffee production facility has helped secure two further projects 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.

These successes follow on the back of a five year initiative to place the company on a sounder footing. In 2009, with the recession taking hold and the company retracting by 40%, the directors embarked on developing a strategy to enable the business to see unimaginable growth: Principal Contractor contracts accounting for between 30% and 40% of turnover and £3m worth of secured sports pitch contracts, are just a couple of examples.

O’Brien also strengthened customer relationships by ensuring on every project, a Director has an overseeing role and assists the project delivery team.

The diversification initiatives took considerable planning and analysis with close to £1m of company money being invested, but it paid off and O’Brien is now achieving record-breaking levels of turnover. With an order book of £15m already secured for 2015, the outlook looks even brighter, with turnover set to increase to £26.6m for 2014/2015.

Peter O’Brien, Managing Director, O’Brien Contractors, said: “We viewed the recession as an opportunity and planned for the subsequent upturn. In a downturn, clients are less active, they are more receptive to changes in their supply chain as they are more focused on value.”

“We found out what organisations didn’t like about their supply chains and repositioned our business approach, aligned with their requirements. This has enabled us to understand their needs and challenges better, so that we can provide them with tailored solutions, greater operational efficiency and a higher return on investment. In many ways, the recession was good for us.”

Design and build contractors:

Specialists in:
• Civil Engineering
• Pre-construction services
• Groundworks
• Infrastructure developments
• Sports pitch construction
• Plant hire

When planning a construction project, make O’Brien Contractors your first choice:
T: 01926 423 918 E: info@obriencontractors.co.uk