Leading civils and groundworks company JD Excavations was delighted to win a prestigious John Sisk & Son Supply Chain Partner of the Year Award recently.
The Cookstown, Co. Tyrone-based firm scooped the Supply Chain Partner of the Year – UK Civils accolade at the annual awards which were held in The Convention Centre, Dublin on Friday, November 24 last. One of the social highlights of the year, the John Sisk & Son Supply Chain Awards recognise excellence among Sisk’s supply chain partners across Ireland and Europe, and show appreciation for all the great work done together.
Sisk spends over €1 billion annually across its supply chain of almost 8,000 companies. Over 70 sub-contractors and suppliers were shortlisted for awards, having been nominated by each of Sisk’s business units and procurement respectively. Each business unit then selected its ‘Best Supply Chain Partner of the Year’ from the proposed shortlist following a thorough evaluation process.
“It was a pleasant surprise,” JD Excavations Operations Director Dominic Nelson says of winning the coveted award.
“Sisk have many other civils companies working for them across the UK, so for them to put our name forward and give us this recognition means an awful lot to us. We try to let our work speak for itself.
“We’re working with Sisk for the last two years, so we’re relatively new to them. We took on a few small jobs at the start before gradually progressing to bigger ones. They’re a great company to work for.”
JD Excavations recently completed the Arlesey Relief Road and Gateway Bridge in Central Bedfordshire for Sisk. The civils contractor took the 1.4km eastern section between the A507 and High Street project from conception to completion, carrying out all civils work, including: main earthworks cut and fill; drainage work, including the formation of two detention ponds; all ducting for comms, LV & HV future utilities; all structural concrete works for the bridge abutments; kerbing, drainage channels, paving and laying sub-base ready for black top.
The project was completed between August 2022 and November 2023.
JD Excavations is currently working on another road project at Burgess Hill for Sisk. The contract involves the installation of a 72km cross-country pipeline in East Anglia. Its other current projects are a 72km cross country pipeline in East Anglia for Anglian Water Strategic Pipeline Alliance, Sheffield Heart of the City 2, which entails a basement construction, drainage installation and all hard landscaping for the city centre hotel construction and a major civils on a RAF project in the Swindon area.
From humble beginnings in 2001 when Jonathan Doyle started out as a “one man and his machine” operator with a turnover of £60,000, JD Excavations has grown into a multi-faceted company with a turnover in excess of £15 million. Currently servicing contracts across Ireland, Scotland and England, JD Excavations became incorporated in March 2012, having been a sole trader for the previous nine years. Dominic Nelson became Operations Director upon incorporation with Managing Director Jonathan Doyle. Jonathan’s wife Lisa is also involved in the business as Finance Director.
The award-winning company has successfully completed earthworks and civil engineering contracts across the public and private sectors, and prides itself on its competitiveness and quality of services in addition to its project management teams who have the qualifications, experience, knowledge, commitment and ethos to successfully deliver projects on time and within budget. JD Excavations maintains a strong foundation of trust and mutual respect generated through positive relationships with clients, engineers, architects, subcontractors and suppliers, and strives to create a culture of collaboration, innovation, safe working as well as a strong sense of commitment to the living environment.
Its core principles are:
JD Excavations employs a 130-strong team who are mostly based on sites across the UK where 90% of its work is now concentrated.
“Our greatest asset is our people,” Dominic stresses.
“We have a great team who carry out top-class work which leads to lots of repeat business and recommendations from satisfied clients. Pre-Covid, we were backboned by staff from the Tyrone area. But now we tend to source from wherever the job is taking place. We have a very diverse workforce which includes plenty of expats.”
The company has an array of plant and equipment to cater for any civil groundworks project, including excavators, dump trucks, bulldozers, compressors and compaction equipment. All machines are equipped with the latest technology from Trimble Machine Control and enhanced safety features from Safety Shield and X-Watch.
“By investing in the latest technology, we’re able to provide our clients with a more efficient service,” Dominic continues.
“Our excavators range from three to 55 tonnes, while our dumpers range from one tonne to 40 tonne ADTs. We’ve invested heavily in machine control (GPS systems) and enhanced safety features such as Safety Shield and X-Watch. Due to recent demand we have also recently purchased a Movac SG75 side grip piling hammer to enable us to carry out all of our own sheet piling works.”
As JD Excavations continues to go from strength to strength, the company would like to take this opportunity to thank its clients and suppliers for their continued support as well as its team and subcontractors for their hard work, dedication and expertise.
Here’s to the next 20 years and more!
JD Excavations Tyrone Ltd
306 Drum Road,
Cookstown,
Co. Tyrone,
BT80 9PT.
Telephone: 028 8675 2094
Fax: 028 8675 1818
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, April 2024, Vol 10 No 4
