H&A Mechanical Services were celebrating on the double at the 2018 Northern Ireland Plumbing & Heating Awards when Paul Corey was named as Apprentice of the Year while the company also picked up a Special Recognition award for outstanding performance and dedication to the plumbing and heating industry. This prestigious industry recognition ties in nicely with H&A’s 25th anniversary celebrations.
It has certainly been a landmark year for H&A Mechanical Services, who celebrated their 25th anniversary on August 13th, 2018. Four months earlier, at Titanic Belfast, the renowned multidisciplinary contractor scooped two prizes at the annual Northern Ireland Plumbing & Heating Awards.
“It was actually our first time to enter the Plumbing & Heating Awards,” notes Business Development Manager Mark Williamson. “We were honoured to win the two awards and our success reflects the investment in excellence that’s ongoing in the company.
“We invest very heavily in apprenticeships as the apprentices of today are the engineers of tomorrow and the supervisors of the coming years and decades. We’ve been here for 25 years and we fully intend to be around for at least another 25 … that’s why we are investing in people, who are the lifeblood of any organisation.
“We bring in seven or eight apprentices every year, which I feel is a measure of H&A Mechanical Services as a business. We work on giving them the skillsets and the required levels of productivity to deliver the high standards that H&A are renowned for.”
Headquartered in Draperstown, County Derry and with offices in Mallusk, County Antrim and Clane, County Kildare, H&A are a multi-disciplined organisation capable of completing major mechanical and electrical service contracts on an island-wide basis in a professional and client-friendly manner.
They specialise in the installation and commissioning of mechanical and electrical services in all types of domestic, commercial, industrial, public and communal housing projects within the public and private sectors. With a proven track record for excellence, they are constantly expanding their M&E services to include the most recent advances in technology, allowing clients to benefit from innovative and sustainable solutions
Professional integrity underpins every element of the service, from initial consultation and design through to system installation, maintenance and repair work.
A dedicated team of industry-accredited engineers, office-based technical staff and administrative personnel provide exceptional project management and top-quality workmanship, culminating in a consistently high level of repeat business while H&A also continue to expand their client base within the private and social housing and commercial markets.
Since its inception in August, 1993, H&A Mechanical Services has expanded organically from an initial payroll of six people to currently provide gainful employment for 320 people.
In the early days of the business, their core discipline was mechanical services. However, in recent years H&A have diversified to become a multidisciplinary contractor, expanding into new areas including building works, kitchens, bathrooms, refurbishment, external cyclical maintenance, electrical and renewable energy. During this period, their client base has widened considerably through the successful delivery of private one-off installations, projects within social housing throughout Ireland, commercial / industrial projects to blue chip companies and a variety of government schemes aimed at combating fuel poverty.
As a family-run company, H&A have a strong personal stake in every project undertaken and take particular pride in ensuring that each one is delivered to absolute client satisfaction. Getting it right first time is one of the fundamentals of the business and is achieved by engaging with clients and listening to their needs.
Meanwhile, 9001, 14001 and 18001 management systems provide a mechanism for controlling and ensuring delivery of consistently high-quality work – safely and with the minimum impact to the environment.
“The mechanical side still represents the core of the business – heating installations and the maintenance of heating systems,” says Mark. “If you treat clients well, they will hopefully stay with the business and there are now many tiers to H&A offering a range of services from our three depots in Northern Ireland, including plumbing & heating, building and electrical work.
“While social housing is the backbone of our day-to-day business, we’re working increasingly on the private housing side as well, delivering 7-800 private installations per year now.”
H&A Mechanical Services Ltd. works extensively for the Northern Ireland Housing Executive and numerous Housing Associations across Northern Ireland, while work in the Republic of Ireland has included multi-unit social housing schemes for Kildare County Council and South Dublin County Council. “Ideally, we’d love to do more work in the South as we have an office in Clane, but it’s all about timing and having the correct labour resources in place. Getting people with the correct skillsets in place is difficult and that’s’ why we’re placing such a major emphasis on bringing through our own apprentices. As it’s proving extremely challenging to get the right people to work for you, we are committed to training, upskilling and holding onto our own people.”
As for reaching the landmark milestone of 25 years in business, Mark concludes: “It’s a long time to stay in business, yet alone to be growing and delivering the levels of service that we have delivered. We’re very proud to have consistently delivered the Northern Ireland Heating Contract of 2,000 heating systems per year every year since 2002 and we’re looking forward to the continued growth of the business through the delivery of exceptional levels of service.”
H&A Mechanical Services Ltd.,
28 Five Mile Straight,
Draperstown, Magherafelt,
County Derry,
BT45 7EE
Tel: 028 79627220
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.hamechanicalservices.com
Taken from Building Ireland Magazine, October 2018, Vol 4 No 9
