Established in 2020 by Ciarán Kelly, Keldin Engineering is a privately-owned Co. Clare-based company which specialises in the delivery of M&E services to clients across a variety of sectors. In less than three years, the company has grown to employ 30 people and is delighted to be a finalist in the 2023 Irish Construction Excellence Awards.
Keldin Engineering has been shortlisted in the ‘Specialist or Specialist Services Contract – €1m to €2m’ category for the design and build M&E fitout of the Lifestyle Sports Carbon Neutral Distribution Warehouse. The Irish Construction Excellence Awards (ICE Awards) are the original and premier recognition of performance excellence for the contracting sector in Ireland, and provide an opportunity for the industry to showcase and reward best practice across the full range of construction disciplines and project categories.
“We’re thrilled with the nomination. It reflects well on our entire team and is good exposure for our company which is still in its infancy,” managing director Ciarán Kelly enthuses.
“Having had a modest enough turnover in our first year, we are now on course for €8 million in 2023, so our growth has surpassed all expectations. At the same time, we’re anxious not to overstretch our resources. We employ like-minded people who take great pride in their work and are given the freedom to do their job and do it right.
“We have a fantastic team that includes quantity surveyors, electricians, engineers, accounts staff and apprentices. We also have an operations manager – Paul Diffley – based in Dublin. We work nationwide mostly on sustainable logistics centres, data centres and wastewater plants. It’s a real team effort.”
Keldin Engineering was engaged by Lifestyle Sports to develop an M&E design and build scheme that was cognisant of the surroundings within a LEED Gold and BREEAM Very Good, A3 BER-rated building, taking all the moving parts of a fulfilment centre and making sure we have a sustainable future when it comes to the ever-popular e-commerce trade. Working in collaboration with TOT Architects and mac-group, Keldin transformed the building into a hub of technology featuring new electrical distribution systems, UPS, ICT Data, Fibre Installations, Fire Alarm, CCTV, Door Access, BMS, Busbar Systems and Air Conditioning throughout. The budget that was set at the outset didn’t deviate and was completed within these parameters. This was a key metric for Lifestyle Sports.
From the initial meeting with Lifestyle Sports, there was an immediate focus on sustainable lean efficient building performance. The client’s brief was to create a fitout that would provide an environment that would not only produce an efficient way to move goods, but also an efficient movement of staff working alongside an autonomous robotic picking system that has little or no impact on carbon footprint due to the performance of the building, coupled with over 140kW of PV generating power from the sun.
Keldin faced a number of key challenges, not least the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. As a new company, all eyes were on it so failure was not an option. Abiding by its motto ‘Trusted Operational Excellence’, the Clarecastle-based company put together a team that would deliver to the highest standards. To counteract difficulties in sourcing materials, Keldin procured all materials up front and delivered them to site with agreement of the client and project team. This mitigated the risk of not receiving items in the event of another lockdown.
The contractor tracked each scope item and placed an internal budget against them to ensure that it would be profitable, while also ensuring added value for the client.
Keldin Engineering has already won a prestigious award in the guise of ‘Apprentice of the Year 2022’ for Luke Clarke. The judges were extremely impressed by how Luke overcame the many challenges that arose through the pandemic to ensure he continued his training.
“Luke received his award in Galway last year. He’s a great example to many of our younger apprentices who look up to him,” Ciarán says.
An electrician by trade as well as the holder of a Masters in Project Management from UL, Ciarán formed Keldin with the vision of offering continuous affordable improvement to the M&E installation services that are provided within the industry. Before going out on his own, Ciarán was employed for many years delivering projects at a top-level multinational electrical firm and this whetted his appetite to improve all processes when it came to M&E installations across the board.
Keldin offers a service that brings the client’s vision to reality. This is achieved by engaging very early to discuss and agree the success factors of each project. Whether it’s a design and build project or a conventional specified designed project, the approach is always the same.
The Keldin team of employees are extremely dynamic and the company is run in a very open and passionate way. There’s an open-door policy throughout the business and Keldin especially likes to engage with the apprentices to get their feedback on what’s being used by the next generation to communicate and, more importantly, what their interests and passions are. Keldin’s apprentices and graduate engineers are seen as the next company leaders, and are treated accordingly.
The ever-changing energy market has a massive influence on the way Keldin designs, installs and commissions electrical systems. The more information that is available to designers, installers and end users, the more ability there is to make changes to the way buildings perform. When a client has either a corporate influence or a moral obligation to ensure that the M&E systems are installed and perform efficiently from day one, then it is Keldin’s responsibility to ensure that they are guided correctly to fulfil their vision, while making sure that there is no adverse effect on the quality and budget.
Keldin has installed systems that meet the sustainable accreditation of LEED Platinum requirements and has submitted the first BREEAM Outstanding Criteria for Logistics Buildings in Ireland (the outcome will be known soon), all while ensuring its regulatory NZEB and BCAR requirements are carefully fulfilled. To summarise, Keldin operates as an M&E contractor that offers added value and a sustainable approach to all projects with a firm eye on operational excellence.
The company’s name is an amalgam of Ciarán’s parents’ surnames – Kelly and Dinan. His father Patrick also ran a drycleaning business called Keldin Kleaners.
As Keldin Engineering continues to go from strength to strength, Ciarán would like to take this opportunity to thank his clients, suppliers and design teams for their support as well as his colleagues for their hard work, dedication and expertise.
Keldin Engineering,
Clarecastle,
Co. Clare.
Telephone: 086 145 0302
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.keldinengineering.com
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, July 2023, Vol 9 No 7
