Established since 1993, Crown is a family-owned business which has grown into a leading provider of full building envelope solutions. Building Ireland touched base with Crown’s Group Health Safety and Environmental Director, Darren Bourke to hear more about this award-winning company, its latest rebrand and what he feels sets it from the competition.
When the late Oliver O’Gorman founded ‘Crown Roofing’ more than three decades ago, he did so with the aim of establishing a residential and small commercial roofing company which would have a proud reputation for delivering high quality projects nationwide.
The years that followed saw his business grow from strength to strength, developing itself into Ireland’s premier specialist roofing, cladding and façade contractor.
In 2012, the second generation of the O’Gorman family took over the leadership of the company, with Owen O’Gorman (Managing Director) and Emma O’Gorman Wall (Chief Operating Officer/ Director) driving the growth and expanding operations.
Crown Roofing Ltd rebranded to ‘Crown Roofing and Cladding Ltd’ in 2020 to reflect its expanded service capabilities and now, five years later, the company has rebranded once more.
Now simply known as ‘Crown’, the name is a reflection of the full range of services that the company has on offer for its clients; roofing, cladding, curtain walling, façades, rainscreen, louvres, brise soleil and door systems.
It also serves to mark Crown’s progression from a subcontractor to key partner in the high-tech and mission-critical construction sectors.
Group Health Safety and Environmental Director, Darren Bourke filled Building Ireland in on the details of what is now the company’s third rebrand.
“It’s now simply Crown,” he explained. “We’ve undergone a complete rebranding exercise and are now positioned as a provider of comprehensive building envelope solutions.
“That’s how we’re presenting ourselves to the market – offering expertise and complex design solutions for mission-critical projects within the technology, life sciences, and advanced manufacturing sectors.”
Currently, Crown employs 135 direct staff, with subcontractors growing its total workforce up to around 400 people and the company’s headquarters are in Lough Dan Lodge, Roundwood, Co Wicklow (A98 D522).
Its team has completed projects in 10 different countries to date, with more on the horizon all throughout the continent.
Darren himself has been part of the team at Crown since February and has 23 years’ experience when it comes to working in Health & Safety within the construction sector.
In 2022, he won Health & Safety Manager of the Year at the annual Health & Safety Excellence Awards.
Darren’s background in the industry before coming to join Crown in the early part of this year saw him working for big-name Irish construction firms such as Michael McNamara & Co., Collen Construction and Mac Group before assuming his current role.
His extensive experience now supports Crown’s expanding portfolio of projects throughout Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Spain, the UK and, of course, Ireland (see crown.global/our-projects/ for more).
Closer to home again, Crown is currently a partner with Dwyer Nolan Developments on one of its multiple apartment block projects in Dublin, overseeing the roofing and cladding works on it.
Needless to say, the company’s full range of services, along with unparallelled expertise, innovation and integrity, have been central to its continued success and growth down through the years.
“It’s family-run and they’ve got decades of experience,” the Group’s Health Safety and Environmental Director pointed out.
“We get a lot of repeat business and our standards of quality are excellent. We are definitely one of the most progressive and positive in terms of Health & Safety.
“The projects we are involved in are among the largest and most prestigious in Europe and UK. The standards we operate to are exceptionally high, and our teams regularly receive recognition from clients across our sites.
“Client acknowledgment is a consistent part of our work, and we take pride in being recognised as an award-winning partner on multiple major projects.”
The most recent award nominations for Crown came in October when the company was up for awards at two different annual award ceremonies on the same Friday night.
A feat in itself, Crown was nominated for ‘Excellence in Health & Safety’ at the 2025 Irish Construction Industry (ICI) Awards, which took place on October 10th at The Convention Centre Dublin.
This was in recognition of the ‘Crown Thrive’ initiative – an initiative developed to aid the company in tackling long-standing issues around the mental health and wellbeing of Irish construction workers. Through employee engagement, incentivisation, and positive empowerment, Crown Thrive provides the support needed to succeed in the modern-day working environment.
While Crown missed out on first place on the night at Dublin’s Convention Centre, it was proud to be a finalist in such a prestigious category nonetheless.
The same night would see the company achieving a ‘Distinction’ award at the All-Ireland Occupational Safety Awards down in Killarney, Co Kerry.
Recognised as Ireland’s premier safety awards, the winners were announced at a gala function at the Great Southern Killarney.
Speaking about the Crown Thrive initiative itself, Darren commented: “That the biggest thing about ‘Thrive’ is that it’s there to empower people to be psychologically safe in their headspace and know that, if they come to us, we have the skills to signpost the issue and we’ll help them.”
This past summer saw the ‘Crown Next Level’ podcast being launched, with six episodes out as of mid-October.
The podcast, which sees Darren Bourke as a guest in its fifth episode, focuses on real issues shaping the construction industry today, from wellbeing, mental resilience and health, to talent acquisition, retention and leadership.
Episodes of the podcast are available to listen to on Spotify, PodBean App, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Podchaser, and BoomPlay.
Crown
Head Office
Lough Dan Lodge,
Roundwood,
Co Wicklow,
A98 D522.
Tel: +353 1 281 8357
Email: [email protected]
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, February 2026, Vol 12 No 2
