In 2018, the MacArdle McSweeney practice, one of Ireland’s premier M&E design consultants, celebrate its 50th anniversary. With this landmark anniversary on the horizon, we caught up with long-serving director Damien Egan to reflect on the history of the company as well as its current well-being.
Firmly established as one of the most experienced and imaginative M&E consultancies on the island, the genesis of MMA can be traced back to 1968, when the original MacArdle McSweeney practice was founded. During the intervening half a century – give or take a few months – over 2,500 projects have been successfully completed.
The practice has played a pivotal role on many high-profile, major office developments in the capital. These include PWC Corporate Headquarters; the largest single office complex, the Montevetro Tower its tallest commercial office building; and the iconic National Convention Centre, the largest single-use building constructed in Ireland in recent years.
MMA won the prestigious Association of Consulting Engineers of Ireland President’s Award for Excellence in the Design of the Mechanical and Electrical Services to the Convention Centre for its innovative use of technology with features such as a thermal-wheel heat-recovery system and an ice-storage thermal storage unit.
In 2015, the practice became part of the Headcount Group, and it now based at its Head Office in Balbriggan, Co. Dublin. Headcount is Ireland’s largest outsourced engineering provider. As well as assembling teams of project engineers and providing managed services to major international clients in the food & beverage, pharmaceutical, semi-conductor and construction industries, Headcount Engineering has amassed a significant pool of design engineers working at their head office in Balbriggan on diverse international projects, such as a brewery in Mexico, a bakery in Saudi Arabia, and a food equipment manufacturer in Denmark.
The combined MMA and Headcount Engineering practice trades as MMA Consulting Engineers, and this alliance gives MMA Consulting Engineers access to the latest BIM and 3D design technology and it allows it to scale up its manpower resources for the largest of infrastructural projects while still offering lean engineering solutions based on sustainable design principles.
MMA Consulting Engineers has amassed considerable experience within the industrial sector, and having worked closely with development agencies IDA, SFADCO and Udaras na Gaeltachta, it has completed major projects for Allergan Pharmaceuticals, Bausch + Lomb, De Beers, Medite, Masonite, Verbatim/MCInfonics, United Drug, Rye Valley Foods and GE Superabrasives.
The company is now winning significant Process and Industrial design projects with companies such as Pfizer, Baxter, Roche, and Norbrook Laboratories and it plans to continue its growth in the industrial sector in parallel with consolidating its presence in the commercial, healthcare, education, residential and leisure sectors.
MMA Consulting Engineers is fully resourced to provide a comprehensive portfolio of M&E design services to cater for the recent resurgence of activity in the domestic commercial sector. In conjunction with BIM & Scan, they can provide the highest quality 3D modelling for high-level sustainable development planning, helping clients, architects and Quantity Surveyors before the planning stage of a project. Energy analysts use a suite of LEED and BREEAM modelling tools to optimise the return on commercial projects with lower construction and maintenance costs.
Director Damien Egan is pleased to report that business is currently brisk: “It’s picking up substantially,” he notes. “We came from having a peak of around 70 people on board at the height of the Celtic Tiger to just seven, but we are building it back up again steadily and we currently have 32 staff, including a team of fully resourced 3D BIM and Revit design technicians.”
Damien has been with the practice for 46 years and has accumulated a wealth of experience in the Design, Project Management, Cost Control and Supervision of building services for large industrial and commercial projects. He has been a director for almost 30 years and has extensive experience. In addition to his project work, he has also played a key role in the development of MMA Consulting Engineers’ ISO 9001 2015 Certified Quality Management System.
“We’re getting into a lot of pharmaceutical work now, with Pfizer, Norbrook and other industrials. We still do a good mix of everything but residential, commercial and pharmaceutical would account for the largest percentage of our work at the moment.
At the time of writing, MMA was also engaged in the redevelopment of Dominic Street Lower for Dublin City Council, a public housing development in Limerick as well as a number of commercial and residential projects in the greater Dublin area.
By embracing the use of 3D design and digital scanners, MMA Consulting Engineers is at the cutting edge when it comes to delivering services using the latest technological advances. “People initially struggle to see why they might need it but as soon as we show them what can be done with a 3D scanner and how we can map out the building, they quickly see how useful it is and the multitude of advantages it brings,” says Damien.
On the retail side of things, MMA Consulting Engineers are involved in the redevelopment and upgrading of the Fresh stores in the capital and have just finished the latest extension to Liffey Valley – proof of superb client relations as they also did the original Liffey Valley!
Damien agrees that the high-quality staff at MMA is the practice’s greatest asset: “You have to keep abreast of technology, obviously, but that’s no good if you don’t have the right staff, and we have a very good mix of people with academic and practical experience. You definitely need both.”
Looking to the future, he is confident that it’s going to be a case of onwards and upwards for MMA Consulting Engineers as this well-established, industry-leading practice moves towards its 50th anniversary: “We hope not only to continue to grow, but to also significantly broaden our customer base in the industrial sector” he concludes.
MMA Consulting Engineers,
4E Fingal Bay Business Park,
Balbriggan,
County Dublin
Tel: 01 6905040
Email:[email protected]
Web: mma.ie
Taken from Building Ireland Magazine, October 2017, Vol 3 No 9
