Having won the prestigious Judges Award for Portlaoise Library at last year’s Irish Construction Excellence Awards, Frank C Murray & Sons Construction Ltd has been shortlisted again in the ‘Commercial Up to €30m’ category for its successful delivery of new and expanded offices at Camida Ltd’s headquarters in Clonmel.
Trading for 63 years, the Roscrea, Co. Tipperary-based family-run business is one of the Midlands’ leading heritage, commercial and renovation specialists. A winner of the Opus Architectural & Construction Award on two occasions for Abbeyleix Library and Birr Civic Office, Frank C Murray & Sons was the main contractor on the impressive Anglesea Street project, the works for which consisted of demolishing all internal works of an existing building and completing the internal rebuilding of two existing Georgian Houses.
Carried out over two phases, the existing external walls and roof structures were left largely intact. All floor joists were either removed or treated, strengthened, sound proofed and fire-rated. Walls to the buildings had all existing plaster finish removed, with insulated lime plaster installed as a more suitable replacement.
The client’s requirements were to carry out works on Phase 1 and once complete, move all staff into this build, then commence Phase 2 and transition additional staff to the Phase 2 area once complete. Both phases of works had an 18-month program.
The internal finishes were completed to an extremely high standard and high specification, e.g. Glass facade lift in Phase 1; Equitone facade lift in Phase 2; Glazed link corridor linking both Phase 1 and Phase 2; Heritage-protected slated gable walls to both Phase 1 and Phase 2, including multiple heritage details such as the reinstatement of all sash windows, shutter boxes and timber surrounds, traditional lime render internally and externally, restoration of existing fireplaces, restoration of existing covings and cornices, and detailed works to existing chimneys.
Phase 1 was a competitive tendering process, while Phase 2 was a tender negotiation process. The final costs of both phases were in excess of €5m and both were brought in on time and within no impact on the client’s operation.
“We’re delighted. It’s testament to the work of the entire team,” Frank C Murray & Sons Contracts Manager John Joe Hartnett says of the 2025 Irish Construction Awards nomination.
“Phase 1 was carried on in 2017 and Phase 2, which took 18 months to complete, was a follow-on from that. Phase 2 was essentially an extensive office fitout and refurbishment of a three-storey period house. There was a lot of restoration involved.
“It was an exceptional, high-end project and we’ve since commenced Phase 3 which involves transforming an old Methodist Church into a fine-dining restaurant. Camida are a super client who we have forged an excellent working relationship with over the past eight years.”
The main contractor collaborated with Architect Cash Powell Design, engineer Tom Carew and all stakeholders to make the project a reality. The Irish Construction Excellence Awards (ICE Awards) are the original and premier recognition of performance excellence for the contracting sector in Ireland, and provide an opportunity for the industry to showcase and reward best practice across the full range of construction disciplines and project categories.
The project wasn’t without its fair share of challenges. From a logistical point of view, the movement of materials and plant was extremely difficult with no space on the public street and no lay-down area on site. Both phases were completely surrounded by existing buildings.
Another significant challenge was the high-water table in the locality. For the initial part of the project, Frank C Murray & Sons were required to excavate down to find stable ground for new rising walls and foundations. The nearby River Suir had flood defence barriers in place for high water level periods. The contractor’s main concern was that the water table levels would impact on its substructure works. Temporary drains were constructed with pumps on standby to avoid any potential water ingress. At times of heavy rain / rising water levels, works were accelerated on the substructure areas to avoid any water regress.
The slated gable works consisted of two large existing gables being stripped of existing slates and complete restoration, including lime mortar and slate install. To access these gables, the builder needed to gain access through other properties on a tight timeframe to complete the works. Some of these works were also carried out in a mobile-elevated working platform as access was very restricted.
Installation of the roof plant was extremely difficult also as there was no room for the traditional crane lifting process. All plant was either man-handled up through the building or by utilising a small crawler boom to lift the plant into place. This boom was quite limited in what it could lift weight-wise and was not entirely conducive to the tight spaces the crew were working within. The main access to the building was down a side lane. To complicate matters, this lane was a right of way to another building that was in constant use by the client and others.
Frank C Murray & Sons has a long and successful history in construction dating back to 1962 when it was founded by Frank Murray. It is now run and managed by his son Francis. Francis is assisted by a strong team, many of which are family members. His sister Gail is the Tendering Manager and also manages BCAR and safety administration within the company. Trish Delaney is the Office/Accounts Manager who looks after accounts and purchasing along with general office management duties. Francis managed this project himself, and John Joe Hartnett, Contracts Manager, is a first cousin of Francis. The family members are supported by up to 20 direct employees and a further 40 tried and trusted subcontractors.
“As the main contractor of this build, we are enormously proud of the performance of our subcontractors. They were central to its success. The key to a project of this scale is to place a strong emphasis on safety, quality and production. We can proudly say that our site management team and subcontractors made this a priority throughout the construction phase,” John Joe continues.
‘’Our company’s main clients are various local authorities, HSE, OPW and Department of Education as well as multiple private clients. Camida are just one of our long-established private clients.
“We also have a number of projects with the OPW, Department of Education and various private clients. We carry out a mixture of heritage, restoration and new build projects,” he concludes.
Frank C Murray & Sons Construction Ltd
Ballybritt,
Roscrea,
Co. Tipperary.
Telephone: 057 913 1217
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.frankcmurray.ie
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, June 2025, Vol 11 No 6
featured, Frank C Murray & Sons
