Nobody embraces modern construction methodologies as vigorously, enthusiastically and demonstrably as McCallion Group, whose industry-leading exploits on the trailblazing redevelopment of Lidl Stewartstown Road saw them shortlisted for a 2025 ICI Award.
For the successful delivery through a tightly-sequenced programme of a next-generation ‘Lidl of the Future’ Type 17 store on Stewartstown Road, Belfast, McCallion Group made the shortlist in the Civil Construction Project of the Year category at the Irish Construction Industry Awards.
Comprising the complete redevelopment of an existing store over a 35-week programme, this unique and challenging project incorporated complex enabling works, demolition and the construction of a new 2,475m² high-spec retail unit with enhanced customer facilities and energy-efficient design features.
The site’s location on a peace line and its vital role within the local community made this a sensitive and strategically important project, and the McCallion team rose to the challenge to duly deliver a modern, sustainable and socially responsive store safely, professionally, on time and within budget.
The Lidl Stewartstown Road Redevelopment is not only a construction project, but a beacon for community renewal, innovation and sustainability. Located at a historically significant peace line, this redevelopment delivered substantial social impact without disruption, creating local jobs and reinforcing community cohesion. McCallion Group’s pioneering use of Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) set a new industry benchmark, with over 80% off-site fabrication significantly reducing carbon emissions, waste and onsite risks. Innovations such as glulam timber beams and the Green Terramesh vegetated retaining wall demonstrate their unwavering commitment to sustainable, future-focused construction.
The project was delivered in a tight schedule between Monday April 1st and Friday November 29th, 2024, with the new store opened in time for peak Christmas trading. At every stage, sustainability was integral, incorporating solar PV arrays, EV charging, airtight construction and biodiversity-focused landscaping. Ultimately, McCallion Group delivered a building with approximately 25% less embodied carbon compared to traditional methods, setting a standard for Lidl’s future stores. Exceptional planning, flawless execution and outstanding collaboration with stakeholders ensured the project was completed safely, on time and within budget.
A sensitive, inclusive approach united a previously divided community, marking this store out as a lasting landmark of modern civil construction excellence. A project that genuinely embodies the spirit of the Civil Construction Project of the Year, Lidl Stewartstown Road stands tall as a monument to how civil construction can sustainably transform communities, leaving a lasting, positive legacy for people and the planet.
Boasting a packed and diverse portfolio that at the time of writing included no fewer than 39 Lidl stores successfully delivered since 2008, McCallion Group is a market leading construction company, headquartered in Buncrana, County Donegal and with vast experience in both the public and private sectors, as well as retail, commercial and residential. In addition to traditional contracts, the company has extensive experience in design and build contracts.
McCallion Group specialises in complete construction solutions including design services, building and construction services, groundworks and civil engineering works. The company’s reputation for excellence results from knowledge, teamwork, dedication and total commitment to consistently achieving outstanding results.
“While we are a general contractor, we specialist in projects with civils elements to them and this job demonstrated very well what fits our skillset and allowed us to show a lot of our capabilities in one project,” notes commercial manager Edward McKinney, who was part of the estimating and business development team at McAleer & Rushe as that company expanded into a multidisciplinary contractor.
Prior to joining McCallion Group as a contracts director in 2017, Edward also worked with Harcourt Developments, where he headed the project management team for the design and build of the iconic Titanic Hotel development in Belfast.
“Around Buncrana, there is a certain reluctance to promote yourself and it’s almost seen as arrogance to do so,” he continues. “However, the fact of the matter remains that McCallion Group are now consistently achieving very high-level delivery and we felt we needed to start promoting ourselves and to be more forward-thinking.
“So we decided to put ourselves forward for the ICI Awards. I spoke to the stakeholders and those who help out with the tenders, and we put a submission together for one category and one project. Needless to say, we were absolutely chuffed to have been shortlisted for the Civil Construction Project of the Year Award.”
As a qualified civil engineer and with a strong background in quantity surveying, commercial / civil construction is in Edward’s DNA. “Getting the full ISO management system for quality, the environment and Health & Safety in place at McCallion has been very important as that allows us to grow. You rely on structure to allow you to manage and deliver largescale commercial and civil engineering projects.
“The way our company is structured, with a very strong civil engineering element in-house, enables us to complete the most challenging projects. Through our own civils company, we operate and manage all our own plant and machinery, which is all tracked and traced, and we carry out all our own demolition in-house, using battery-powered equipment wherever possible to minimise noise and reduce our carbon footprint.”
Speaking of which, McCallion Group are currently on site at Lidl Maynooth, in County Kildare, where they will deliver Ireland’s first Net Zero Energy supermarket. This first-of-its-kind Lidl store is set to make history as it aims to become the first BREEAM-accredited Net Zero Energy supermarket in Ireland, targeting an Outstanding rating, as recognised by the Irish Green Building Council.
This state-of-the-art supermarket will be the first retail space in Ireland to produce all its operational energy from onsite renewable sources, while also fully offsetting the embodied carbon associated with its construction through renewable energy generation. The store will feature a 575 kWp solar panel system installed on both the roof and within the car park, further cementing Lidl’s position as the owner of the largest rooftop solar array in the country.
The building, due for handover in November, will incorporate concrete made from 50% recycled materials, sustainable glulam timber roof beams and lower embodied carbon roof panels. Additionally, stone from Lidl’s original Maynooth store has been 100% recycled onsite to further reduce emissions and is being reused as part of the build.
The repurposing and reuse of concrete and aggregates was also instrumental to the sustainability success of the Lidl Stewartstown Road redevelopment, where construction by-products such as masonry and concrete were crushed, screened and tested on site for reuse as fill material, reducing the need for imported aggregates and lowering carbon impact.
“We essentially generated a by-product from our demolition rather than it going to landfill as waste,” Edward points out. “Some engineers are very slow to embrace this but we have been doing it for years already.”
With the existing store remaining operational for as long as feasibly possible, the site needed to expand by over 50% into adjoining land to accommodate a significantly larger footprint. This expansion required a 9m high retention structure on three sides of the site, a complex and critical engineering feat, to safely raise and secure the development platform.
Here, McCallion Group used a pioneering, complex and painstaking Green Terramesh system from geo-solutions specialists Maccaferri – an ingenious modular, vegetated wall system using geogrid-reinforced mesh, which is laid out in layers and folded onto itself, promoting natural landscaping, eliminating the need for concrete shuttering, reducing embodied carbon and enabling quicker, safer installation.
“This is the most environmentally friendly retention structure I’m aware of and within a year it will look like grass, with fantastic aesthetic appeal,” Edward concludes. “From the point of view of sustainability and the use of MMC, nobody has done anything like what we did at Lidl Stewartstown Road and it’s a futureproofed project that we’re extremely proud of.”
McCallion Group,
Unit 20,
Lisfannon Industrial Estate,
Fahan,
Buncrana,
County Donegal.
Tel: 074 936 2952
Email: [email protected]
Web: mccalliongroup.ie
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, December 2025, Vol 11 No 13
