Fairyhouse Steel in Co Meath has earned a proud reputation as premier suppliers of cut and bent reinforcement bar and mesh to the construction industry. Last year the company earned the Sisk ‘Supplier of the Year’ award, as Technical Director Michael Brazil explained to Building Ireland.
Last November saw Fairyhouse Steel’s excellent service recognised on a national scale at the Sisk Supply Chain Awards.
For the Brazil family, it was a proud night for the company which their late parents Michael and Mary first founded in 1970 before building up its solid reputation for prompt service, quality and reliability.
Situated between the M2 and M3 motorways in in Ratoath, Co Meath, Fairyhouse Steel has easy access to the M50 and is in an ideal location to service any steel reinforcement and mesh demands, quickly and efficiently.
The family business has developed a proven track record, built over nearly half a century of service to the construction industry which ensures that clients rebar requirements are manufactured to exact requirements.
Mary Brazil currently heads up the company as its Managing Director, while her brothers Felix and Michael are directors of the business. The latter filled Building Ireland in on what they are all about when we caught up with him recently.
“We’re established 48 years and right now we’ve between 50 and 60 staff working here,” explained Michael jnr. “My sister Mary is the Managing Director and myself and my brother Felix are directors of the company.
“Basically, we are a one-stop shop for steel and reinforced bars. We are also Ireland’s biggest supplier of rebar. Our investment in our Factory Management System enables us to produce and manage steel rebar schedules to BS8666:2005 within a fully traceable Quality Management system.
The company’s product range varies from reinforced steel and rebars to mesh fabric, helicoil, couplers and prefabricated Cages. Fairyhouse Steel are the largest supplier of prefabricated cages for Piling in the Irish market.
The Fairyhouse Steel production facility in Ratoath contains modern shear lines, along with automatic link benders and bend tables, which enable them to produce in excess of 1,500 tonnes of Cares Approved reinforcing bar per week.
The company’s comprehensive range of rebar stock allows it to accommodate any unscheduled requirement which might arise. The product range also extends to pile cage manufacture, helicoil, mesh fabric in standard sizes, tying wire and accessories.
John Sisk & Son have remained one of Fairyhouse Steel’s largest clients over the years.
“This company was established by my father Michael Brazil Snr and John Sisk & Son would have been one of his first customers when he started on sites back in the early 1970’s”, explained Michael, who currently holds the role of Technical Director. At that time steel rebar was cut & bent on site, my dad saw an opening for offsite production to speed up the operation and thus began the establishment of Fairyhouse Steel.
“We’ve a long-standing relationship with Sisk down through the years from when my father first started doing work for them”. Some of the earliest jobs he worked on with Sisk was St. Patricks Teaching College and UCD Arts Building. In late August of 1979, Sisk required urgent supply of rebar to the Papal Cross to ensure it was ready for the visit of Pope St John Paul II.
The list of projects that Fairyhouse Steel has completed for Sisk in recent years is a long one. It includes work at Dundrum Town Centre, Capital Dock, Spencer Dock, Hanover Quay, the Dun Laoighre Library, the UCD Science Building, the Mater Hospital and UCL Critical Care, Pairc Ui Chaoimh and Diageo amongst others.
The company are presently working on Sisk projects for Centre Parcs Ireland and in Grangegorman.
“It has improved but it’s still not at the height it was. There’s a bit of a false economy out there at the minute too but it has got better,” he said.
“We recently supplied 7,000 tonne of rebar to the Capital Docks team within an eleven month programme, and it’s only when you have very good and dedicated staff that you can make things like that happen. I’m at this a long time and it can be a rough industry but it’s been modernised.”
“We just finished work at Microsoft’s Dublin campus for BAM. Some of our other long term clients at Fairyhouse Steel include BAM Building & Civil, Bennett Construction, John Paul Construction, Walls Construction, Collen Construction, PJ Hegarty, PJ Edwards & Co and JJ Rhatigan & Co”.
As well as the work they do for Sisk and other Main Contractors, Fairyhouse Steel have a ‘Small Contract Division’ which specialises in fulfilling the rebar and mesh demands associated with the home build and agricultural related schemes.
The company offer consultation, advice and support to ensure the success of a client’s project. They appreciate that any perspective customer can be quite unsure as to the exact steel requirements going into a once off build.
Home builds include General Foundations, Raft Slabs and Floor Slabs, while for Agricultural builds they’ll supply Slatted Tanks, Silo Walls and Driveways.
So what’s the secret? Why is that Fairyhouse Steel’s clientele continue to choose them first ahead of other competitors in their field?
“A lot of the time it comes down to price,” said Michael jnr. “But I think for us it’s because our reliability for our clients, the good service we give them and the value we provide as well.”
Back in November that reliability and value was encapsulated when the company scooped the Supplier of the Year award for 2017 at the Sisk Supply Chain awards at Dublin’s Clayton Hotel.
Fairy House Steel beat off competition from numerous multinational companies to take home the award on the night and it was a proud one for the Brazil whom were out in force at the ceremony on their company’s behalf.
“We were told in September that we had been nominated and were going to be coming up against a few multinationals like Roadstone for the award,” said Michael jnr.
“We were delighted to be nominated firstly and then to win it was a fitting tribute to our dedicated staff and, as I said, without them it simply wouldn’t happen for us.”
It’s not the first accolade the company has earned and you get the feeling it won’t be the last either.
Indeed Fairyhouse Steel has an array of different certificates it has achieved down through the years and customer confidence in the product that they supply has always been of critical importance to the management team there. This confidence has been achieved and maintained by only purchasing steel from ‘Cares Approved’ mills, thus ensuring quality, reliability and traceability.
As a further progression in quality, by early 2008 the company itself achieved ‘Cares Approval’, demonstrating that we operate a quality system which complies with the requirements of BS EN ISO9001.
This certification means that customers can be assured that the company’s purchasing of steel reinforcement complies with BS8666 and BS4466, while their stock and distribution complies with BS4449, BS4482 and BS4483.
In 2012, Fairyhouse Steel further enhanced their commitment to environmental issues by achieving the Cares Sustainable Constructional Steel Certification.
Fairyhouse Steel
Porterstown Lane
Ratoath, County Meath
Tel: 01 8256482
Fax: 01 8256370
Small Contracts Division
Technical Director
Michael Brazil
Mob: 086 8232107
Taken from Building Ireland Magazine, April/May 2018, Vol 4 No 4
