Ormonde Construction Ltd in Co Kilkenny has continued to hold a strong place in the Irish Construction industry since its establishment in 2001. Managing Director John Houlihan spoke to Building Ireland recently about some of the projects they’re working on at present.
Located in Kilkenny City, Ormonde Construction Ltd has established itself as a company which its clients know they can trust in.
The business was founded by John Holohan, who earned a degree in construction management before going on to work with various different construction outfits before deciding to set-up Ormonde Construction Ltd in 2001.
Since that time, the company has grown from strength to strength, completing projects throughout the entire Leinster region (and beyond), growing its staff numbers and obtaining repeat business from clients all over the country.
At this moment in time business continues to be steady for Ormonde Construction, according to its Managing Director, who gave us the lowdown on what the company is all about.
“We’re based in Purcellsinch Business Park just outside Kilkenny City and the company has been established since 2001. We’ve 30 staff working here right now,” explained John.
“We do all kinds of construction work here, but mostly we have focus on the commercial and industrial sectors since we started here and lately we’ve been working on a lot of school projects.”
2016 saw Ormonde Construction working on a couple of different school projects, including St Brigid’s National School in Callan, Co Kilkenny & Teresian School Donnybrook Dublin 4 which is due for completion in July 2017.
In the early part of 2017, the company’s books are still on the full side as they work on different projects throughout the province, including in Tullamore, Fermoy, Portarlington and Kilkenny.
“Right now we’re quite busy and you can definitely tell that there has been an upturn,” John stated.
“As I said, we’ve a couple of school projects on – St Teresian School in Dublin would be one – and then we’re doing work for Coolmore Stud in Fermoy and Brett’s Mills in Kilkenny.
“We’re working on a water treatment plant in Portarlington, and have just commenced a Community Centre in Admastown Lucan Co. Dublin so we can’t really complain about how things are going at the present time.”
Repeat business has been a big factor in Ormonde Construction’s growth over the last decade-and-a-half or so and John feels the company’s “hands-on approach” over the years has been a major factor in securing it.
Combine that with the quality of work which the company produces and it’s hard for clients to go elsewhere.
“The likes of Glanbia and Coolmore Stud would be long-time clients of Ormonde Construction. Glanbia in particular,” he outlined.
“We tend to get a good bit of repeat business off them and we’ve always had a good working relationship with them.
“I think that’s because of the good quality that we produce in our work and the fact that we’re always on time and within budget. We have a very hands-on approach as well and I believe our clients are attracted to that.”
Reliability and top quality work are two of the company’s top attributes for clients to come back for.
ABP Foods in Co Louth, a food group which works with a network of over 35,000 farmers, can also be added to the list of Ormonde Construction’s clientele.
“Down through the years we would have done a lot of work for ABP Foods,” said John. “So you could say that Glanbia, Grant Distillers and ABP Foods are up there with our top clients. We’ve also done a lot of local nursing homes as well.”
One of those nursing homes is Drakelands House Nursing Home in Drakelands, Co Kilkenny.
In 2011, Ormonde Construction completed work on a new extension at Drakelands House Nursing Home, which brought it an additional 30 jobs to the area. We are trying to tip into Primary Care developments and hope to have some positive outcomes in this sector shortly.
“We’re working on a number of projects at the moment, Grant Distillers in Tullamore, St Teresians along with Adamstown in Dublin, and a couple of other projects, so there’ll be plenty to keep us going,” John concluded.
Ormonde Construction Limited
Address: Freshford Road,
Co Kilkenny
Tel: 056 7786940
Fax: 056 7786938
Taken from Building Ireland Magazine, September 2017, Vol 3 No 8
