Established in 2004, O’Neill-O’Malley is an Architectural and Project Management Consultancy with its head office located in Galway. Building Ireland touched base with co-director John O’Malley recently to learn all about this thriving business and its recent projects.
It’s been steady growth for O’Neill-O’Malley over these past 17 years and, right now, business is strong for the Galway headquartered firm.
In fact, business has never been better in what is a “very vibrant market”, according to John O’Malley, and he, and fellow co-director John O’Neill mean to keep things that way right through to 2022.
Currently operating with 35 full-time staff, this award-winning company is second to none when it comes to delivering bespoke Architectural solutions, to meet a broad range of challenging project demands.
Building Ireland spoke with John O’Malley to find out all about its current projects and the impact the Covid-19 pandemic has had on the business.
“Right now, we are exceptionally busy,” he said. “We, like the rest of the world, were unsure of what the future held at the beginning of Covid but, in saying that, we weren’t shutdown at all. We rallied as a team and adapted. Technology saved us!
“Now, I’d say that we’re the busiest we’ve ever been. It’s a very vibrant market at the moment.”
A registered practice with the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland, O’Neill-O’Malley holds RIAI Project Supervisor Design Process and Conservation Grade III accreditation.
The company’s project portfolio covers a broad range of development typologies including, Retail, Commercial, Industrial, Residential, Hotel & Leisure, as well as various combinations of the aforementioned.
It has worked on projects throughout Ireland and the UK with a range of public and private sector clients and stakeholders, gaining valuable and unique experience in the process.
According to the two directors, the secret to the company’s success thus far has been their excellent team, which has continued to grow, year on year, in line with growing market demand.
At the moment, the company is immersed in an array of different projects which John O’Malley was good enough to take the time to fill us in on the details of.
“For the most part, our work can be divided almost evenly into 2 no. streams, namely: Commercial/ Industrial and Residential/Mixed use development.
“We recently provided full Architectural services for one of the largest clear-span aircraft hangers in the country at Shannon Airport,” he outlined.
“We are currently providing full services to Ei Electronics for their new state-of-the-art production facility in the Shannon Free Zone and were also Project Architects and Design Team Lead for the recently completed Shannon Commercial Properties Industrial campus, recently occupied by world leading gene-therapy company Meira GTx.
“Aside from commercial and industrial development; multi-unit residential and mixed-use schemes represent our other significant activity. We currently have several thousand residential units at various stages of development nationally and in the UK.
“Building on our recent successful delivery of the Mayo Hospice, we continue to work with the very dedicated and hard-working Mayo/Roscommon Hospice Foundation, assisting with ongoing Roscommon Hospice works.”
There’s more down the line as well for O’Neill-O’Malley as business looks set to continue to thrive well into next year.
“Thankfully our 18-month forecast is very positive,” said John.
“We have obtained planning consent for another large clear-span aircraft recycling hangar at Ireland West Airport in Knock earlier this year, as well as permissions for a broad range of warehouse, industrial and logistic buildings in Dublin, Galway, Mayo, Clare and Limerick.”
Busy times indeed, but what have been the ingredients behind such continued success for the company for nearly two decades now?
For John O’Malley, communication with clients has been integral since the beginning and continues to be to this day.
“In approaching all projects, we collaborate closely with our clients, interrogate their brief fully and aim to develop a thorough understanding of their project drivers,” he said.
“As a commercial architectural practice, our daily challenge is to reconcile the modern-day reality of onerous and often rigid commercial constraints with the very best in contemporary architecture.”
In addition to its core Architectural offering, ONOMA also provide a range of ancillary services, such as: Project Management, Commercial Development Consultancy, Feasibility Studies, Master-Planning, Contract Procurement & Administration and Design and Build services to Main Contractors.
A multi award-winning company, this year saw O’Neill O’Malley shortlisted for a number of awards at the annual Irish Construction Awards and Building & Architect of the Year Award in both the Commercial and Healthcare categories.
You can be sure there are plenty more successes down the line for this dynamic venture which has built up a reputation for excellence.
For now, they’re focused on the work at hand and meeting client demand as the company turns 18 years old next year.
Further consolidation and growth, of course, is something that both John O’Malley and John O’Neill are targeting going forward as the former himself explained.
“I suppose our plan for the months ahead is to maintain our current trajectory,” he said.
“We’re on a good course and we will simply continue to grow the business in a steady manner and keep building relationships with clients.”
What more could you ask for?
O’Neill-O’Malley
| Block 2/3, Galway Technology Park, Parkmore, Galway, Ireland H91 KFD3. |
Tel: +353 – 91-771033
Fax: +353 – 91-771597
Email: [email protected]
Web: onom.ie
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, October, Vol 7 No 10
