One of Ireland’s most progressive civil engineering contractors is P&D Lydon Plant Hire Ltd which has a comprehensive fleet of modern plant and equipment. Formed in 1999, having previously traded as a partnership, they operate from sites throughout the country with their head office in Cross, Co. Mayo.
P&D Lydon prides itself on delivering projects to the highest quality standards, on time, within budget and safety being of utmost importance. They maintain a strong skills base of managers, professional engineers and skilled personnel. They adopt a team approach and focus on value engineering and innovation in order to achieve best value for their clients. P&D Lydon re-uses and processes construction materials where possible in an environmentally conscious fashion to the satisfaction of their clients.
They have developed a diverse client base ranging from local authorities within Ireland, airport authorities, Irish Rail, ESB, along with major private developers and other large construction companies within the construction industry. The company specialise in the areas of road works, water and sewerage schemes, utilites, coastal protection works, watermains replacement and drainage works, bridge works and earthworks.
Company Director, Patrick Lydon, spoke to Building Ireland about how the company has adapted since the economic crisis hit these shores. Unfortunately, during the recession a number of businesses involved in the construction industry failed to make it through those bleak times, but the majority of the ones that did had one thing in common and that was experience. P&D Lydon Plant Hire Ltd has 18 years of experience in the civil engineering sector and Patrick feels that this has played a huge part in the growth and sustainability of the business.
“During the recession, we maintained our position in the market by completing numerous projects for State Bodies such as ESB, Mayo County Council, Galway County Council, Limerick City & County Council, Irish Rail and Irish Water ”, said Patrick.
“Our experience is invaluable and we endeavour to get the job done on budget and to the highest standard possible, working with the customer all through the project.”
With the type of work that they do, contracts can come up all over the country and they are very much a nationwide business who employ 80 people directly as well as a number of sub-contractors.“We have a lot of employees that have been with us for many years, and their expertise and experience has been central to the company’s success”.
The utilities division of the business distinguishes itself as providers of service ducting, cabinet installations, earthing, cabling and all civil engineering to the major telecommunications service providers in Ireland. Their clients include ESB Networks, Bord Gais, Eircom, Irish Water, KN Networks and Irish Rail.
Projects range from new pole installation, including wire termination, to large open cut duct trenching along heavy traffic routes for high tension cables for ESB. P & D Lydon have successfully qualified for the ESB National Trenching & Ducting Framework 2015-2017 which involves all ESB ducting works and civil works in counties Mayo, Galway, Athlone, Clare & Limerick and also carried out The Zimmer ESB Ducting Project in Galway which involved the laying of 800m long of 125mm ESB ducting along the busy urban area of Doughiska in Galway City. Complex pedestrian and traffic management solutions were designed and implemented on site by P & D Lydon’s own trained personnel.
For many years, P&D Lydon have constructed high quality road projects for The National Roads Authority and local authorities, from new builds to that of realignments, while still maintaining uninterrupted traffic flow based on innovative traffic management designs.
During 2016, the company worked on N17 Ballindine-Carrownurlaur Road Realignment Scheme for Galway County Council. This project involved the construction of approximately 2.4km of carriageway, hard shoulder and verges (1.4km of online realignment). This involved works through areas of bog/peat that had to be excavated to solid formation and removed off site.
Another road project that the company has completed over the past few years, is the N21 Killarney Pole – Barnagh Road Safety Scheme (Phase 2), on behalf of Limerick City and County Council. The works involved the realignment of 2.1km (1.2km of online road reconstruction) of the main N21 on the Tralee side of Newcastle West in County Limerick.
Health & Safety is of utmost importance to P&D Lydon Plant Hire Ltd. P & D Lydon’s Health & Safety policy is that work will comply with statutory provisions and all reasonable practicable measures will be taken to avoid risk to employees or others, but the company endeavours to go beyond the statutory obligations and aims to have the highest safety standards in the industry. “In late 2009 we achieved the International OHSAS 18001:2001 accreditation and in early 2010 we also gained our SAFE-T Certification, a construction sector specific safety management system standard. We have also achieved the A-Safety Certification”.
Capital investment is important to the business and the plant is always being upgraded, with significant investment again in 2016. “Our plant and machinery is upgraded on a regular basis and it is then well maintained to avoid any downtime. We know the importance of investing in order to meet the demands of our customers.”
The site plant and transport equipment includes track excavators (ranging from 3 – 70 tonne available with hydraulic hammers and compaction plates), wheeled excavators, articulated dump trucks, lorries, road sweepers, while quarry plant includes screeners, crushers and loading shovels. The company have recently invested in the purchase of a specialised Asphalt Recycling Machine that allows for up to one tonne of old tarmacadam to be recycled on site, reproducing new asphalt and tarmacadam instantly, thus allowing the job to be completed on one site visit.
The success of the business has been recognised by the awards that they have won in recent years such as the NISO award for the best Civil Engineering Company as well as the Best Medium Sized Company award in 2015.
Contact Details:
P&D Lydon Plant Hire Ltd
Cross,
Cong,
Co Mayo
Tel: 094 9546099
e-mail: [email protected]
Taken from Building Ireland Magazine, February 2017, Vol 3 No 2
