Established since 1998, Hollyfort delivers the highest standards and quality of service in each and every project it undertakes for its clients. Building Ireland touched base with its CEO Martin Dormer about this thriving Dublin-based firm – from its early beginnings to the projects its immersed in at the moment.
Business has seldom been better than it is these days at Hollyfort and the plan for Martin Dormer and the team based in Bluebell Business Park, Dublin 12 is to try and keep things that way for the foreseeable.
Operating with 60 direct staff, the company has grown to become a leader when it comes to offering clients construction, maintenance and facility support services.
Since the late Paddy Dormer set-up this venture more than a quarter of a century ago, it has earned itself an excellent reputation amongst its clientele nationwide.
Building Ireland heard more from Paddy’s son Martin, who is now CEO of Hollyfort, to discuss the ins and outs of the business and what has made it an undoubted success story to date.
“It’s a second-generation company. My father, who has recently passed, in his later years he went out on his own as a sole trader and started working for charitable organisation and did some construction projects. Then he formed a company called Hollyfort, it grew then and he stepped aside in 2006 and I took over at a young age,” Martin outlined.
“After getting more experience and getting increasingly involved the industry, I really started focusing in 2011 into the restricted live environments of charitable organisations and healthcare.
“So, from 2011 onwards, it has been fairly flat to the mat and, in the last five years, there has been some serious growth from (an annual turnover of) €2m to €8m.”
Right now, Hollyfort has a strong team of full-time staff and an extensive network of approved vendors from various disciplines, ensuring they can meet diverse client needs effectively.
Having been the company’s Managing Director for the past 18 years, Martin has now moved up the line to become its CEO as new MD has come in in recent weeks.
“It’s exciting times ahead with a new Managing Director coming in to help grow the structure and build on what’s there already,” he commented on the new managerial structural change.
He also adds that its “been extremely busy” as of late at Hollyfort where they continue surpass clients’ expectations and take great pride in doing so.
Of course, having two facets to the business has played a key role to its success and the substantial growth it has enjoyed over the past half decade in particular.
“Technically, there’s two sides to the company. We have a maintenance and facility support side and we have a renovation and construction side,” explained the CEO.
“So, there’s two separate sides to the business that complement each other. We have 24/7 reactive and planned side of the company, and then we have a construction side of the company which completes minor works all the way up to large capital projects.”
The company is immersed in some of those larger projects at the present time, including two inside of St Vincent’s University Hospital Dublin, Merlin Park Hospital, Galway and another in Mount Carmel Hospital.
There are more in the pipeline too, according to the CEO, but, for now, Hollyfort is fully focused on the numerous jobs currently on hand.
“We have a number of different teams working on major and iconic initiatives,” Martin stated. “At St Vincent’s University Hospital, we are near completion of an Oncology Ward refurbishment and a Sims Lab.
“In Galway, we are handling a complex healthcare project that involves both renovations and new builds while maintaining full operation across four different areas of a high dependency unit. Additionally, we are nearing the completion of a substantial eating disorder hub at Mount Carmel Hospital in Churchtown.”
He continued, “Another project we’re privileged to work on is the historic clock tower in Dr Steevens. It’s an iconic and historic project involving the restoration of the clock and various remedial heritage works.
“We also have teams in some of the local authorities carrying out retrofit properties and, as well as that, we’re on frameworks for some of the larger colleges now.
“So, we’ve recently completed some educational projects at Trinity College, TUD and UCD and it’s great and exciting to be working with the educational sector now that we’ve established that we can compete in some of the most challenging environments there within the healthcare, and we’ve branched out to education, councils, local authorities and the like.”
So, all of that considered, the burning question is what has been the secret behind Hollyfort’s success to date?
How has a small start-up grown into what is now very much a thriving specialist when it comes restricted and live environment projects, operating with 60 full-time staff and golden reputation among its clients?
“Our approach is to build partnerships, rather than simply providing services. We that find when we collaborate with our clients, they benefit significantly more”. Martin pointed out.
“Having two sides to the business gives us the ability when our clients are in trouble – and every client gets in trouble be it a flood, an emergency, something that needs to be done quick – we have the maintenance resources to get them out of trouble in a timely fashion and in a safe manner. This reliable assistance often leads to further opportunities for our construction division. When clients experience our prompt and effective maintenance service, they are more likely to consider us for future construction projects.
“So when clients fully utilise our services, they can benefit from both sides of the company. Our maintenance team which is available to solve immediate problems or preventive tasks, and our construction team which is ready to assist as required larger projects.
“That’s the key advantage for Hollyfort, and having the experience inhouse of wide range of departments and skillsets. That’s the real core value for the client and knowing that we want to be there for 10, 20, 30 years and not just for a once off job.”
Looking at the months ahead for the business and towards next year, Martin is as optimistic as he has ever been for Hollyfort going forward.
“This has all grown organically. We plan to expand further, with one or two significant projects in the pipeline and final stages of participation in a couple of large frameworks. With these opportunities, we are ready for even more growth,” he concluded.
Hollyfort
Unit 15 Bluebell Business Park,
Old Naas Road,
Dublin 12 (D12 X4A0)
Tel: 01 499 9099
Email: [email protected]
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, September 2024, Vol 10 No 9
