Tag: civil engineering

Leading groundworks and civil engineering contractor, O’Brien, has been appointed to work on LondonMetric Property’s £77m retail distribution centre near Kettering.

Codenamed Thunderbird 2, the multi-million pound investment will deliver a centrally located, 98,700 m2 facility at the heart of the UK’s Strategic Road Network.

Appointed by principal contractor, Sir Robert McAlpine, O’Brien has been awarded a number of groundworks, including: foundations, drainage and underground services.

The project marks the start of a new relationship with Sir Robert McAlpine and Peter O’Brien, Managing Director, O’Brien Contractors, said: “One of our key strengths is our understanding that it is imperative to be able to evaluate and advise on the best and most practical solution to a given challenge and provide a cost, time and environmentally effective alternative.”

“Having secured one of the regions highest profile distribution centre construction projects, Sir Robert McAlpine needed an experienced civil engineering and groundworks specialist who understands their challenges and requirements.”

“O’Brien Contractors is very pleased to have been awarded this contract and by delivering tailored solutions, we are confident of providing Sir Robert McAlpine with the most efficient and cost effective service available at all times.“

Founded in 1958, O’Brien Contractors have some of the most talented individuals in the industry and can offer a flexible and adaptive approach to undertaking any project, regardless of size or complexity.

O’Brien has delivered class-leading solutions for organisations including Jaguar Land Rover, Nestle, Aston University, Kier Construction, Wates and John Sisk.

“From hospital emergency units and universities, to distribution units, highways, Olympic-standard sports facilities and residential schemes, complete customer satisfaction is the goal for every one of our projects, with the ultimate aim of the customer wanting to work with us again and recommend us to others.” said Peter O’Brien.

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.”

Read the Construction News Specialist Awards 2015 judges write-up, click here.

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.

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.

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.”