Tag: groundworks

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’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.

According to a report published by Ofsted, outside of football, a large proportion of students, who have gone on to become the next elite athletes and tennis, rugby union and cricket players, have been nurtured on the sports fields of England’s independent schools.

41% of Team GB athletes who won a medal during the London 2012 Olympics were educated at an independent school. This is quite remarkable when you consider only 7% of school-aged pupils attend an independent school in England, compared to 86–93% of the population who are educated by a state run school.

This should come as no surprise when you consider that Independent schools have embedded competitive sports into their culture and ethos. They ensure all students participate in frequent sports activities; building confidence, self-esteem, academic excellence, character building, but also providing young people with the platform to realise their sporting goals and ambitions.

Independent schools do enjoy greater financial benefits over state schools, but now the Department for Culture, Media and Sport is investing over £1 billion in the next few years to help people get fitter and healthier through a range of programmes designed to make access to sports facilities easier for everyone.

So, with grants and funding available to schools and local authorities, this is a great opportunity to get new sports pitches and facilities in place and bring competitive sport into the fabric of the education curriculum of state schools.

It is vital that schools and local authorities make the most of this opportunity because the skills adopted during physical education and through regular participation, are essential to the early development of children and young people. It can teach them key values, including: sportsmanship, teamwork, respect, mutual understanding and honesty.

Through competition, a child’s education is a far richer experience. They enjoy competition. Competitive sport encourages children to try harder. It also provides them with the experience of winning and losing and how to deal with both emotions.

Sports Pitch Specialists!

Investing in new sports facilities has to be done right for two important reasons: firstly, so that you get the best value from your budget, and secondly, so that you receive a high standard installation ensuring students can and will use them for years to come. To do it right you need to work with the best sports pitch providers you can and O’Brien Sports, who’s management team has over 55 years’ experience in sports pitch construction, is one of the first large civil engineering firms able to offer turnkey solutions for a range of sports facilities.

The company delivers 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.

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 sports pitches
• Total solutions for sports pitches
• Infrastructure, including: access roads and car parks

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

We’ve recently strengthened our earthworks service and plant hire division with the acquisition of a new GPS controlled CAT D6T dozer.

The new D6T will be put to the test at St. Modwen’s £100 million town centre masterplan at the former MG Rover site. This development will feature the Midlands’ largest Marks & Spencer store comprising 150,000 sq ft, a six floor multi storey, 500 space car park and an additional 45,000sq ft of retail, restaurant and café space.

We have been appointed by principal contractor, Morgan Sindall, to deliver a highways package – including earthworks, 1606m of drainage up to 6m deep and 4500m of kerbs and edgings.

The new CAT D6T takes our investment in state-of-the-art equipment and machinery up to an impressive £2.2m during the last 12 months, including: two new Volvo A25G articulated haulers, three Volvo EC140DL excavators and a CAT D6N GPS controlled dozer.

Mick O’Brien our Director, said: “Throughout the years, our expertise has grown but our aims remain much the same – to work with our clients as an expert partner and provide industry-leading staff, technology and skills to deliver end results that exceed expectations.”

“To achieve our goals, we believe we must continue to invest in our people, software and machinery to ensure we continually improve the quality of our work and the speed of installation, saving our clients both time and money.”

This latest investment is part of an ongoing diversification strategy that is transforming our business and seen us win countless awards in recognition of our innovation, including ‘Tomorrow’s Company’ and ‘Specialist Contractor of the Year’ by Construction News and ‘Contractor of the Year up to £300 million by Building Magazine.

As the industry prepares for its annual celebration at the Construction News Awards on 30 June 2015, the recognition we’ve received at previous awards has prompted us to proudly sponsor this year’s event.

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

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.”