In the August edition of Building Ireland magazine we featured William Doyle & Sons Construction and their success in scooping the Retail Project of the Year award at the Irish Construction Industry Awards 2016.
Doyle’s Wexford neighbours F&M Whelan Steel Engineering were responsible for all the steel work on the winning entry – the Audi Showroom in Wexford town – and also supplied steel work to the Audi Showroom in Waterford and the SEAT showroom in Enniscorthy for Doyle’s.
2016 sees F&M Whelan reach the noteworthy milestone of 30 years in business. Started from humble beginning by Francis Whelan back in 1986, nowadays they are the first port of call for many of Ireland’s and Europe’s leading contractors as they consistently deliver quality workmanship irrespective of the size or complexity of the project.
Having initially trained as a mechanic Francis made a departure from machines and motors to steel and cladding gaining employment with Graves & Co., New Ross before setting out as a self-employed steel erector.
In 1983 he became involved in the setting up of a steel engineering business in Wexford town but his desire to be his own boss was always paramount and Francis established his own family business with wife Mona and brother Martin in 1986.
Emerging out of a small garage beside his home, manufacturing agricultural sheds and other light steel for local farmers and businesses, Francis built the business year on year to become one of the leading structural steel manufacturers in Ireland.
Today, F&M specialise in the design, manufacturing and erection of structural steel, architectural steel, curved steel and cladding and roofing.
“It has been a struggle at times but we’re still here!” quipped Francis. “Graves closed down around 1980/’81 and my back was to the wall. Necessity is the mother of invention, as the saying goes, and the bills had to be paid so that’s how the company kicked off.
“We currently employ approximately forty-five, including sub-contractors, and we’re extremely fortunate to have a great staff. Good people are the makings of any company.”
Very much a family orientated company, F&M Whelan’s management team has the capabilities, strategy, attitude and resources to continue to grow and develop the company.
In recent years the company recruited Fergus Whelan as Production Manager, Nick Whelan as Contracts Manager and Aisling Whelan as Finance Manager. Martin Whelan manages and oversees site operations with Francis Whelan Jnr. also employed as a qualified Fitter/Fabricator and Steel Erector. Monica Whelan is the company’s payroll administrator and accounts assistant.
As a consequence, their long list of loyal customers, which includes the likes of Sisk, Bam and DFL to name but a few, can be confident that F&M Whelan will deliver quality workmanship irrespective of the complexity of the project.
This is facilitated by a highly qualified and experienced team of designers, fabricators and erectors and the directors’ financial prudence and hands on experience.
F&M Whelan Steel Engineering use the most accurate and integrated 3D software packages to manage and create detailed, constructable 3D models of any steel structure.
Their knowledge and experience allows them to offer clients the best value solutions to their steel and cladding requirements, and means they are best placed to work with engineers and architects on proposing alternatives steel options, fabrication methods and fitting techniques.
All of which results in value for money and financial saving for their clients.
Over the past three decades they have built up a vast portfolio of varied works. These involve the fabrication and erection of steel for large industrial units, pharmaceutical plants, food manufacturing plants, hotel & leisure facilities, health care facilities, retail and public sector projects.
And not content to rest on their laurels, Francis & Co have ambitious plans for the future.
“We’re currently at the planning application stage for a new state-of-the-art workshop which will entail a €2m investment over the next year and a half,” he revealed. “I started out in a car garage you could say and as the company grew we kept adding extension after extension. When you do that what you end up with is a building that’s not really fit for purpose by today’s standards.
“The new workshop will be open plan and 27,000 sq ft in size and will greatly help streamline the through flow of steel. It’s ready to go!”
Accreditations such as CE marking and the EN 1090 standards are utilised by F&M Whelan Engineering Ltd. to provide a competitive advantage in addition to acting as a catalyst to raise standards and institute improved work practices within their business.
“You always have to keep your standards high, when you take on any job you have to do it to the best of your ability because as my father used to say – you only get your name once, if you lose it it’s gone.”
Francis added: “We’ve been rightly busy. During the slack time we got a bit of a roasting like everyone else but survived on the back of a couple of nice contracts. In the first half of this year, there was a significant increase in the amount of enquiries coming into the office.
“They’ve started to stall recently and the possible impact of Brexit is the only thing I can put my finger on for that. Time will tell but, overall, we’d be confident about the future. A lack of skilled tradesmen in the country is the main thing that I would be concerned about.”
F&M Whelan has been servicing and delivering steel and cladding products and accessories to its customers from the outset.
In recent years they expanded their services to opening a Hardware Store where you can now find a wide range of products including; building, plumbing and electric products, power and hand tools, garden tools and accessories, paint and decorating products, homewares, general hardware and solid fuels in addition to supplying all ranges of steel sections, and offering blasting, priming, galvanising and fabrication services as well as supplying cladding, flashings and steel fixing accessories They open Monday to Friday (8.30am to 5.30pm) and Saturdays (8.30am to 1pm).
However, they remain predominantly a Structural Steel Engineering firm and are proudly renowned as leading steel fabricators and erectors in Ireland.
F&M Whelan
Rathangan
Duncormick
Co. Wexford
Tel: +353 51 563220
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.fmwhelan.com
Taken from Building Ireland Magazine, November/December 2016, Vol 2 No 7
