South East Formwork Ltd are trusted contractors to both private and state entities. Established in 1993 by Tom O’Loughlin, the company has earned a strong reputation for quality and reliability, offering its clients a service they can depend on.
Operating from the seaside village of Fethard-on-Sea in Co. Wexford, South East Formwork has a wealth of experience in a variety of formworking and concrete works such as formworking, in-situ flooring, climbing formwork, shell construction, building of in-situ concrete floor slabs, lift shaft stairwells, in-situ stairs and all aspects of other formwork, while constantly adapting in the changing times and site conditions with Peri Formwork Systems. Formwork is the process of providing a temporary structure (shell) to freshly poured concrete, allowing it to cure until it can fully support itself, and Peri Formwork Systems are the reliable industry partner for the whole construction process, being a worldwide leading manufacturer and supplier of formwork and scaffolding systems.
South East Formwork provides formwork solutions for buildings and offices, underground carparks, hotels, shopping centres, manufacturing facilities, schools, third level institutions, bridges and roadworks, water treatment plants and piers and coastal erosion works. The company offers unrivalled skills, expertise and experience in concrete frame structures and boasts a growing client list which includes such reputable names as Duggan Brothers, Ormond Construction, John Sisk & Son, John Paul Construction, Roadbridge, JJ Rhatigan Building Contractors, Sorenson Civil Engineering and Matthew Wall & Sons.
South East Formwork has a solid workforce who are on rotation to accommodate any size of project. Some of the staff have been with the company for over 20 years, including foremen David McDonald and Mick Lucey. Tom O’Loughlin and Charlie Rowe are the company’s two directors.
“We take great pride in the quality of our work and our exemplary health and safety record. We’re passionate about what we do and constantly strive to exceed our goals and targets. We’ve forged strong working relationships with our clients by delivering outstanding results time and time again,” Tom says.
“We’re a long time in this game and have a wealth of experience behind us. We offer a top-class and price-competitive service. We get a lot of repeat business and attract new customers through word of mouth and recommendations.”
Tom had spent a number of years in London learning his trade before returning to Fethard-on-Sea and setting up South East Formwork almost a quarter of a century ago. “One of the first jobs I got was the main stand in Walsh Park, which is the headquarters of Waterford GAA,” he recalls.
“The Talbot and Maldron Hotels in Wexford were among the other early projects we worked on. At the height of the boom we employed 120, but then the recession hit and we were suddenly left with only four staff. Thankfully, things have started to pick up again in the last couple of years and we’re now back up to 45 staff.”
Working predominantly in the South East, the formwork specialist’s portfolio includes Boat Strand Beach in Co. Waterford, White’s Hotel in Wexford Town, Wexford County Council headquarters, Tramore Promenade, Carlow Water Treatment Plant, Wexford Opera House / National Opera House, Waterford Institute of Technology Nurses Training Unit and Wexford Garda Station. South East Formwork also worked on 20 newly-erected bridges on the M11 Gorey to Enniscorthy PPP Scheme.
As a Wexford man, Tom was particularly proud to be associated with the Wexford Opera House / National Opera House and Wexford County Council building projects. The state-of-the-art Opera House was opened in 2008 as a fitting home for the Wexford Festival Opera, as well as being built as an all-year round multi-disciplinary performance art-form theatre. In 2014, it was granted further official recognition by being designated Ireland’s National Opera House by the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. The designation has enabled Ireland to take its place among Europe’s great nations with its own specific opera house and has seen the Wexford Opera House been internationally acclaimed as ‘the best small opera house in the world’.
Opened in 2011 at a cost of €46 million, the Wexford County Council headquarters was named Best Public Building at the 2012 Irish Architecture Awards. According to the judges, the building “is of the highest standard” and “the ground floor main street typology is lifted to a new level of civic grandeur through proportion; the rhythmic balance of solid and void, and the power of the materials chosen”.
“We did all the seating area and pit acoustics in the Opera House and the complete formwork package for the County Council building. It’s nice to be associated with projects of that calibre,” the affable managing director explains.
Having recently completed works at Wexford Garda Station and Bausch & Lomb in Waterford for Duggan Brothers and John Paul Construction respectively, South East Formwork has several contracts ongoing, including Glanbia in Ballyragget, Co. Kilkenny for Matthew Wall & Sons, City Square Shopping Centre in Waterford for John Sisk & Son, Brannigan’s Warehouse in Kilkenny and Tullamore Dew Whiskey Store in Tullamore for Ormond Construction and Primary Care Centre PPP project for JJ Rhatigan Building Contractors in Carrick-on-Suir, Co. Tipperary.
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank our clients for their support and loyalty down through the years. We hope to continue working for and with them for many more years to come,” Tom concludes.
South East Formwork Ltd
Haggard,
Fethard-on-Sea,
New Ross,
Co. Wexford.
Telephone: 051 397196
Mobile: 087 2504167 / 087 8210431
Fax: 051 397224
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.southeastformwork.com
Taken from Building Ireland Magazine, September 2017, Vol 3 No 8
