Specialising in engineering, communications, aviation and TEGG, Brooklyn Engineering Services has been delivering innovative, bespoke electrical engineering solutions to Ireland’s construction industry for four decades. Building Ireland touched base with director Dermot McNamara to get an update.
Since its inception 40 years ago, Brooklyn Engineering Services has built up an unrivalled track record in delivering specialist electrical engineering services across the construction industry.
Regarded industry-wide as an innovative specialist in engineering, communication, aviation and TEGG maintenance services, Brooklyn Engineering Services has down through the decades successfully delivered on significant contracts and engaged repeat business with a wide range of blue chip clients including Diageo, Intel, Microsoft, Amazon, Hewlett Packard, Vodafone, Symantec, Coca-Cola, Sisk, BAM, Balfour Beatty, Pfizer, Google and Tara Mines as well as international and regional airports in Ireland and abroad including regular repeat work for the Dublin and Shannon Airport Authorities.
Due to Brooklyn’s foundations in process control and industrial automation, the business has grown organically to become one of the most respected specialist electrical contracting firms operating in Ireland’s construction industry. Their capabilities in general electrical contracting as well as their expertise in more specialist areas provide BES with a unique approach to consistently delivering exceptional electrical projects.
Brooklyn Engineering Services have the capability of delivering turnkey design and installation projects and have carried out installations of varying sizes from small general services to complex multi-million-euro projects. They specialist in the design and installation of structured cabling networks for applications of all sizes and complexity including the design and installation of CAT5e, CAT6, CAT6A, multi-mode and single-mode fibre optic cabling systems.
Brooklyn’s highly qualified and vastly experienced engineers and managers work together to deliver services that invariably satisfy budget and time constraints, as well as meeting the particular needs of their customers’ businesses. With four decades’ experience in a diverse range of industries and markets, Brooklyn Engineering Services continually enjoy repeat business from customers recognising the value of employing contractors who go beyond the nuts and bolts of a typical installation.
“Ninety per cent of our work is specialist electrical installations,” confirms director Dermot McNamara, who runs Brooklyn alongside his business partner Paul Huban. “While we do provide some general services, such as office fit outs, the vast majority of the work these days is specialist electrical engineering, including working on air handling units in data centres, for example.
“What we do essentially is specialise in electrical installations covering a range of commercial, process plant and AGL [Airfield Ground Lighting] works. We have provided AGL services at Dublin, Shannon, Cork, Waterford and Kerry Airports.
“Additionally, we also do TEGG testing and have had the franchise for that for the 26 counties since 2016.” Using the most advanced equipment on the market to view, diagnose and predict weaknesses in building electrical infrastructures, TEGG is the world leading provider of the internationally-accepted Energised Electrical Testing Solution.
As the sole and exclusive provider of TEGG services in Ireland, Brooklyn Engineering Services work with a broad spectrum of clients – including commercial properties, industrial facilities, educational institutions, data centres, pharmaceutical, manufacturing, distribution and healthcare facilities – to protect them from electrical hazards and interruptions to their electrical service.
At the heart of Brooklyn Engineering Services – widely known as a great company to work for – is their wonderful 130+ team of specialist electrical engineers, apprentices and management staff, who work together to ensure the seamless delivery of best-in-class installation, maintenance and testing services.
“We’re very lucky to have an excellent crew of vastly-experienced personnel,” says Dermot. “In Airfield Ground Lighting, for example, our engineers are all experienced in that specific area. A lot of them were apprentices in AGL and have gained invaluable experience and training in the intricate work involved in providing those services. Our senior supervisors and foremen have all been with us for a long time – some of them for up to 30 years – and they are all still relatively young.
“As much as we can, we try to bring through our own apprentices. The best ones tend to stay here after they have completed their four-year apprenticeships. A lot of our current electricians were apprentices with us and one of our senior Contracts Managers, John Ryan, started out as an apprentice with us over 30 years ago.
“The management structure we have in place is excellent. We have three Contracts Managers who in our opinion are as good as you would get in any company because they are hands-on and have bought into the ethos of the company. They are also family.
“John Huban is the second Contracts Manager and he is the son of my partner, Paul Huban. The third is my nephew, Ciaran McNamara. Myself and Paul have been working together for almost 40 years now – he looks after the technical side of things and I’m in finance. My son Conor McNamara is financial controller, so there’s a real family ethos here.
“John Ryan’s forte is airfield lighting; Ciaran specialises in TEGG and the prison work is also under his watch; John Huban looks after the rest, which includes the data centres and ongoing works at Leopardstown Hospital and Donnybrook Hospital.”
While Brooklyn Engineering Services have amassed much experience working internationally, they are focusing predominantly on the domestic market at present: “We’re very busy in Ireland and that is keeping us going,” Dermot states. “We don’t want to become stretched because in that case somebody always suffers and the quality would go down. We’re not prepared to compromise on that, so we’re sticking to Ireland.
“The airfield and TEGG testing work could be anywhere nationwide but the rest of it tends to be mainly focused in the Leinster area. We’ve recently started working with Pfizer and have ongoing work with them around the province and we’re also doing quite a lot with Google. We’re also working on key upgrades at Irish prisons, which includes the installation of state-of-the-art lighting and communications systems.
“Hospitals is a big area that we have developed under the TEGG banner. Testing in hospitals is critical and we can identify any potential problem areas before they happen.”
As for the ethos that has led to Brooklyn Engineering Services establishing itself as a leader in its field of expertise, Dermot concludes: “Quality is our ethos. It all comes down to quality. Health & Safety is very important, too. There simply has to be a safe working environment and we drill it home to all our employees that safe practice is paramount. When somebody comes in to work in the morning, we want to make sure they go home safe that evening.
“On the installation front, it’s all about quality workmanship with no short cuts taken, ever. We know what our standards are and we insist upon operating to those standards at all times. Our level of quality is non-negotiable and we will never compromise on that because it’s what this company has been built on.”
Brooklyn Engineering Services,
Unit 8,
78 Furze Road,
Sandyford, Business Park,
Dublin 18.
Tel: 01 2942400
Email: [email protected]
Web: brooklyn.ie
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, April 2024, Vol 10 No 4
