Noel C. Duggan Engineering Ltd in Co Cork has been a top-level steel fabricator throughout Ireland and Europe for some time now. Building Ireland learned about what the company has been up to lately from Barry C Duggan, who is fourth generation in the family-run business.
Founded back in 1875 by Andrew Duggan, Noel C. Duggan Engineering Ltd provides steel fabrication services to a wide range of customers in Ireland and throughout the rest of the continent.
The company is situated in Millstreet, Co Cork and currently employs 50 staff, placing a strong emphasis on high quality workmanship and excellent level of customer service throughout its 143 years (and counting).
The family run business has established itself as one of Ireland’s leading steel fabricators and its current Managing Director Barry Duggan was good enough to take time from his hectic schedule to inform Building Ireland what they’ve been up to as of late.
“We have a lot of irons in the fire presently. I’ve two sisters (Martina and Gena) that look after the hardware end of the business and my brother Thomas runs the Green Glens Arena,” he explained.
“My son is also involved in the business now so that makes him fifth generation. Andrew Duggan (founder) was my great-grandfather. My father is Noel C, who the company is named after, and my son’s name is Noel T.”
It’s certainly come full circle out Millstreet way and Barry’s end of the business has always been structural steel and will continue to be. It’s the company’s “core”, according to the man himself, and he points out that they are the oldest structural steel business in Ireland today.
Noel C. Duggan Engineering operates out of a technologically advanced 8,000m2 fabrication facility, with a highly skilled team, allowing the company to produce in excess of 15,000 tons of steel annually.
The modern production facility situated in the town of Millstreet utilises the most up to date machinery and the highly trained workforce enables the steel fabrication company to achieve a high standard of engineering at a very competitive price.
Using local knowledge and extensive experience the company serves a wide range of customers with professional, prompt and efficient services. Its business success can be largely attributed to the skills of the staff, their attitude and team spirit which provided the foundation for the culture of Noel C. Duggan Engineering Ltd.
However, as a company they go further. What distinguishes Noel C. Duggan Engineering Ltd is their approach towards relationship with customers. To them, each customer relationship is a unique partnership.
Protecting the environment is very important to the team as well and there is a proactive programme in place to encourage the “reduce, re-use and recycle” philosophy whenever possible.
Changing a few things helps to improve their health while helping the environment to assure a cleaner world for future generations. Noel C. Duggan Engineering is committed to the reduction and control of pollution.
The company’s flexibility offers in design and fabrication is virtually unlimited. The in-house detailing staff utilises Strucad detailing system from Acecad Software & Tekla to provide the accuracy and the level of detail required in today’s steel construction industry.
The professional engineering staff designs the end connections of all members to assure that the structural integrity fully meets all specifications.
Noel C. Duggan Engineering Ltd detailers, under the direction of the professional engineering staff, perform the detailing function to the highest level of accuracy and skill in a timely and cost effective manner. In the event that out-sourced detailing efforts are needed, they have a wide range of professional firms that they utilize who will meet the needs of any project specifications.
Projects of note in recent times include the Old Dell Plant in Limerick and Mater Private in Cork, while the company are also working on a project for Project Tile in Mulhuddart, Co Dublin.
In Naas, Noel C. Duggan Engineering Ltd has been working on a project constructed by Irish International Trading which is a brand new depot in the Kildare town which Barry says “is huge” in warehousing terms.
“It’s 600 feet long and 100,000 square feet right beside the M7 motorway,” he explained.
“We also have a brand new Land Rover Garage in Cork that we’re working on for Johnson and Perrott.”
All things considered, it’s safe to say that business is in a fairly good place now for Noel C. Duggan Engineering Ltd and Barry concurs that times are much better now than the struggles of a decade ago.
He’s confident that business will continue to improve as it has been over the past couple of years.
“You have reason to be optimistic for the future,” he said. “In 2008, it completely went off and it took a lot of surviving but we got through it and thankfully things are moving in the right direction.
“(During the recession) we needed a conscious effort to get small quickly. We did that and our numbers are growing again now.”
So what’s the secret to keeping a family business alive and, seemingly, now thriving again after the best part of a century-and-a-half?
Barry says quality of work and the ability to retain clients is very much half the battle.
Noel C. Duggan Engineering Ltd has always prided itself on the quality of finished product it has produced and the company’s namesake’s son has ensured to usher in the very same approach.
“We actually tend to get an awful lot of repeat business and a lot of that comes down to our trustworthiness and reputation for quality,” he stated.
“We have key people in the steel business and we have good people who produce good quality as well. People come back to us because they know they’ll get that quality.”
After 143 years, what more can you ask for than that?
Noel C. Duggan Engineering Ltd
Main Street,
Millstreet,
Co. Cork
Tel: +353 (0) 29 70039
Taken from Building Ireland Magazine, January 2018, Vol 4 No 1
