It was no major surprise when LMC Group scooped the prestigious Sub-Contractor Of The Year award of the 2018 Irish Construction Industry Awards – an accolade which ties in nicely with the company’s ten-year-anniversary celebrations. Building Ireland touched base with director Stephen McConnell to get an update.
The very best in industry was showcased and recognised at the 2018 Irish Construction Excellence Awards ceremony in Dublin’s CityWest Hotel on the evening of Thursday, June 14th. Having been shortlisted in the coveted Sub-Contractor of the Year category, LMC Group – a company which has achieved remarkable growth in its decade of existence to date – was suitably represented on the night and was honoured to take home the prestigious prize.
“This was our first time to apply for the award, so it was great to be nominated, never mind to win the award,” says director Stephen McConnell. “It’s nice to get the recognition and obviously a bit of publicity never hurts. It’s a nice bonus and it’s great to be recognised by your peers.
“But, of course, it’s all about looking after your clients and customers at the end of the day. We have built the company up based on providing top-class service to our clients by delivering excellent projects on time and within budget and that’s what our main focus is. Any award – or nomination for an award – that you pick up along the way is an added bonus.”
Established in 2008, LMC Group has quadrupled in size in the last three-four years alone. Supplementing the core mechanical contraction business are relatively-new facilities management and modular contracting companies, which generate direct employment for 55 and 50 people respectively, from an overall Group team of 145 – a truly remarkable achievement considering that Stephen and his business partner Martin Lydon (who previously worked together for many years) started the business from scratch less than a decade ago.
One of the construction sector’s fastest-growing success stories, LMC Group comprises three complementary departments – LMC Engineering, LMC Facilities and LMC Modular, offering nationwide coverage.
LMC Engineering are highly experienced professional and competent engineering contractors. Their team boasts over 30 years’ experience in the construction industry and they have completed some of the most noteworthy projects in the country, offering the complete building services suite of services from design through coordination, programming, procurement, installation, testing, commissioning and demonstration to handover.
LMC Facilities is the total life cycle care company within the Group, with the capability to deliver the complete life cycle care package to service the built environment from initial design through construction, life time operation to optimum end of life replacement. Their extensive expertise supported by their bespoke CAFM system ensures that their clients’ assets are safe, maintained in accordance with statutory regulations and are cared for within the best practice guidelines.
Callout and ppm asset status are available to view in real time through LMC’s client portal, while their CAFM system also simplifies Asset Register Compilation, Planned Preventative Maintenance Scheduling and Statutory Certification Status.
A single point of contact and central invoicing for each client ensures a personal service and an understanding of their particular priorities.
LMC Modular, meanwhile, is the complete modular bathroom and kitchenette build solution company. They are an approachable, company delivering professional big company performance with a personal one to one service.
To coincide with the genesis of LMC Modular, Stephen and Martin opened a new manufacturing facility in Birdhill, County Tipperary to manufacture bespoke and fully serviced modular bathrooms and kitchenettes. These units are constructed and tested in factory conditions and LMC can therefore guarantee continuity of quality across the entire order.
Their production process has been developed with the highest quality, reliability, durability and ease of installation as priorities, far exceeding standards used under traditional site conditions. LMC Modular have the capability to deliver the complete modular solution from their factory floor mechanically and electrically certified to the client’s site ready to be slotted into position and connected to the site services. With vast knowledge and experience, LMC Modular can deliver all of this in the most energy and cost-efficient manner.
LMC are not just installers, but a company with firm technical knowledge and an engineering background, bringing maximum value to the table. One of the first projects they undertook was Letterkenny General Hospital and, slowly but surely, they grew in stature and went from strength to strength.
They tendered for a lot of government work and showed their technical capabilities by taking on a number of Primary Care Centre contracts, including Ballyfermot Primary Care Centre, Meath Street Primary Care Centre and Grove Court Primary Care Centre. Other HSE projects like Cork University Hospital, Galway University Hospital and Nenagh Hospital followed on the back of this.
They then moved into the education sector and secured work at universities and Institutes of Technology, from NUIG to UL, Sligo IT to UCD and DCU. The sectors currently serviced include Government, Education, Healthcare, Commercial, Retail, Pharmaceutical, Microelectronics and Industrial.
The group is fully accredited to Quality ISO 9001, Environmental ISO 14001 and Safety OHSAS 18001 standards. With their vast knowledge and experience, LMC can deliver all of their services safely and in the most energy and cost-efficient manner.
LMC Group – which has offices in both Dublin and Limerick – will celebrate its tenth anniversary in October of this year, with a turnover of €25m projected for the current calendar year. The impressive success and growth of the Group is due to the consistent provision of unrivalled services and a shrewd strategy of diversifying in response to prevailing market demand. Going forward, how difficult will it be to ensure that this growth remains controlled and sustainable?
“We are a company that was born at the height of the economic crash so we are aware of the potential pitfalls of losing the run of ourselves,” says Stephen. “Nobody is more aware of what could potentially lie around the corner than we are. Even though construction is looking very promising at the moment, we intend to proceed cautiously. But we feel there are opportunities for further growth.
“You have to plan ahead and make sure you are in a position to respond to your customers’ needs. We look two or three years down the road and we have a very strong business development strategy in place across the Group going forward,” he concludes. “We will be looking to expand into other markets and these are very exciting times for LMC.”
LMC Group Ltd.,
5 The Courtyard,
Kilcarbery Park,
Nangor Road,
Clondalkin,
Dublin 22.
Tel: 01 5334920
Limerick Office
Unit 45,
Eastlink Business Park,
Ballysimon Road,
Limerick.
Tel: 061 423386
Web: www.lmcgroup.ie
Taken from Building Ireland Magazine, September 2018, Vol 4 No 8
