Last year certainly proved to be another one to remember for M&P Mechanical as they celebrated their 10th anniversary and also struck gold at the prestigious Plumbing & Heating Awards for the third time running. Building Ireland touched base with Managing Director Mark O’Rourke to get an update on this progressive family business, which consistently delivers quality mechanical services to all sectors of the construction industry.
In December, 2021, M&P Mechanical – for their outstanding work on the design, supply and installation of a district heating network in Ballyroan village, County Laois – deemed worthy winners of the District Heating Project of the Year accolade at the annual Heating & Plumbing Awards.
Collecting this prestigious award represented a poignant end to a landmark year for M&P Mechanical, who had marked the tenth anniversary of their genesis the previous May. During the intervening decade and counting, this multiple-award-winning family-owned mechanical services provider has experienced extraordinary growth through consistently exceeding client expectations and delivering projects on time, within budget and to the highest quality standards.
Outlining why M&P Mechanical’s outstanding workmanship on the Ballyroan District Heating Scheme was selected as a winner at the 2021 Plumbing & Heating Awards, the panel of judges observed that this project exemplified the true nature of district heating in connecting a community together to reduce its need for fossil fuels.
Citing Ballyroan – where a biogas anaerobic digester generates heat for a CHP (Combined Heat & Power) plant to heat the local church, with allowance for future connection to the school and the larger energy users of the village – as a perfect example of the district heating systems of old, the judges concluded that this successful scheme proved how, with proper planning and community and stakeholder buy-in, an effective solution can be provided to make use of waste heat.
By any standards, the success enjoyed by M&P Mechanical since its inception in 2011 has been nothing short of remarkable. Founder and MD Mark O’Rourke, who established the company alongside his wife Pauline, M&P Mechanical attributes the rapid rise of this outstanding family run business (to the status of an industry leader with a proven track record for excellence) to his exceptional team:
“I have a great team behind me,” confirms the Louth resident, who has worked in the industry for four decades. With a team of contract managers headed by TJ Collier and Chris Brown, under the supervision of Anthony O’Conaill, the company’s COO. I also have a fantastic set of project managers through the likes of Aidan Kerr, Darren O’Neill Philip Martin and Peter McGeeney who have been with me since I started, and they cover the spread of project. The structure and quality control they bring is key to the success of the company. With foremen on each site and a supporting team of engineers headed by Kyle Murphy backing them up from the office, the professionalism is second to none. Keeping the material arriving on time, and controlling purchase costs is all done by my excellent purchasing staff headed by Sarah Phelan and her supporting clerical team.
“Our daughter Niamh is working in accounts alongside Elaine Ward who has been with us since 2012 and our son Darren who did his apprenticeship with me, is now working his way through as foreman, so it has turned into a real family affair, which I’m particularly proud of. The family ethos is very important to us and we’re pleased to be generating employment and income for a lot of families across Louth and Dublin.”
Headquartered in Castlebellingham, County Louth and with a second office, located in Sandyford, Dublin 18, M&P Mechanical offers a large range of services including the design, supply and installation of heating, ventilation and air conditioning, plumbing services, plant utilities, mechanical refurbishment and maintenance.
Since we last spoke to Mark back in 2017 (after M&P scooped the District Heating Project of the Year award for the Lighthouse Apartments at Georges Place, Dun Laoghaire), the company has grown substantially. Today, they have a daily onsite presence of over 150 people and remain very much on an upward trajectory.
“About 50% of those are based in the Louth area, which is all local employment, including a variety of skills from apprentices to senior management, drawn from Dundalk in the north of the county to Drogheda in the south of the county and everywhere in between. We place a big emphasis on local employment. We started off with just two people eleven years ago and we worked our way up from there.
“The growth in employees provides an accurate reflection of how the business is performing. We have a lot of very good clients on our books, we’re securing nice projects and generally M&P Mechanical is going from strength to strength.”
In 2019, M&P Mechanical – who have a comprehensive portfolio in the hospitality across the whole country, with experience working in hotels from Cork to Galway, Wexford to Belfast and Sligo to Limerick – had the honour of installing innovative mechanical systems as part of a complete transformation of the iconic Fairways Hotel in Dundalk. “We were delighted to get that job because The Fairways in only ten minutes’ drive down the road from our HQ in Castlebellingham and Denis Williams Design Services were great people to work with,” notes Mark.
“We’re still doing all of the residential work for Urban Life, owned by Laurence Goodman, with recent developments in Dundalk including 150 units at Mount Hamilton and 65 houses in Phase I of Cathedral View. We’ll also be doing Mill Lane in Drogheda, which is 50 units, while Clonmore Close in Ardee is also 50 units. We were very lucky to get an opportunity with Laurence when he started Urban Life and we’re consistently providing a good service, resulting in more repeat business.
“We also work on an ongoing basis for ABP, which is his father’s business, of course, while we also do a lot of work in Louth for Phil Reilly of Shannon Homes Drogheda. For Shannon Homes, we’re carrying out the mechanical installations on 180 units in Blackrock and a 100-unit development in Drogheda.”
The two largest ongoing projects in Dublin, meanwhile, are major residential and commercial developments, Blackwood Square in Santry for Mick Cosgrave of Cosgrave Developments and Hamilton Gardens in Cabra for Walls Construction, which combined comprise of some 815 apartments. Both projects are district heating system where M&P’s expertise really come to the fore. While a district heating system in St Clare’s Park, Harold’s Cross was recently completed [220 apartments] all this team to move to another district heating system install at Clay Farm (295 apartments) in Leopardstown for Park Developments and another Park Project in Sutton with Heat pumps being installed on 150 luxury apartments.
At the time of writing, they were midway through phase one of a scheme of 384 apartments on the Naas Road, while another ongoing project comprises installing individual heat pumps on 250 homes in Lucan for Hugh McGreevy & Sons. “We’re on Phase III of that one, with 150 houses completed,” Mark points out.
Now firmly-established as one of Ireland’s premier mechanical engineering contractors, M&P Mechanical – who are also currently delivering a mechanical upgrade at the Rochestown Park Hotel in Cork – pride themselves on invariably meeting and exceeding client expectations. Their highly-skilled, professional and dedicated workforce is central to the core objective of maintaining such industry-leading standards of excellence.
“Our staff are skilled and dedicated, but our loyal clients also play a big part in our success,” Mark acknowledges. “We have a lot of the same customers with us since we started, with new ones added regularly, and we benefit from a large volume of repeat business. We also receive wonderful support from our suppliers and their support is vitally important.
“While our turnover has increased year on year, I like to see the company performing well in the long haul, especially with it now being a family business with the second generation so actively involved.
“We have 35 vehicles on the road servicing our sites and that affords us great visibility and the presence of M&P vans on the road and at sites demonstrates that we are out there in force.”
This requires constant investment and it’s also crucial to exercise vision and innovation, to be on the look-out for new opportunities…
“With so much repeating business, I set up a servicing and maintenance division to meet our clients’ needs, this is headed by Ultan Toner, who was my first person to serve a full apprenticeship here at M&P Mechanical. With a team of seven servicing approximately 2,500 homes per year on contract,” Mark reveals. “They provide service work on installations that we have completed over the years. Everything has to be properly maintained and serviced if you want it to perform as efficiently as possible. Some of it is repair work and some is preventative maintenance. That service is proving extremely popular and I can see it growing further.”
All in all, M&P Mechanical is in a strong position going forward, albeit with no room for complacency: “I was lucky in that I came from a long-term background in this line of work and when I took control of my own destiny, I was determined to prove myself,” Mark reflects. “There are a lot of families who are more than happy to work in this company and I cherish that.
“We have good solid structures in place and referral work continues apace, while we are delighted to be still working with Shannon Homes Dublin as that is where it all started for us. We were working for Frank Fahy back in the early days and have built upon those foundations.”
Another significant landmark was reached by M&P Mechanical towards the end of 2021 when their management systems were certified to ISO 9001, 14001 and 45001 standards. “We set ourselves that goal a year ago and the girls in the office did fantastic work to make sure we hit the target within a year,” Mark concludes.
“A lot of paperwork and admin went into it but it was all worth it as ISO is on our profile now. It just proves further that we are serious as a company.
“We have dedicated staff and I’m hands-on myself. I don’t sit back and that’s important. But it’s not about me: it’s about the team. Central to that is my wife: none of this would have been possible without the great support I’ve received from Pauline. When you have good people around you, anything is possible.”
M&P Mechanical Ltd.,
Derrycammagh,
Castlebellingham,
Dundalk,
County Louth
Tel: 042 9379 090
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.mandp.ie
Dublin office:
Suite 2,
Blackglen Village Centre,
Blackglen Road,
Sandyford,
Dublin 18.
Tel: 01 5180 580
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, June 2022, Vol 8 No 6
