In June, Doherty Build were double winners at the 2015 Irish Construction Industry Awards, earning gongs for ‘Overall Excellence in Construction Award’ and ‘Health Project of the Year’. Building Ireland spoke to Sean Doherty to find out more about a special night for the Dundalk-based company.
With over 40 years’ experience in the Construction Industry, building everything from Bespoke Houses, Care Homes, Churches, Factories, Offices and Civil Engineering works to Residential Developments throughout Ireland, the Doherty Build name has become synonymous with the highest level of quality attainable.
Based in Dundalk Co Louth, the company is run by brothers Sean and Eamon Doherty and employ approximately 30 staff between HQ and their second location in Newry, Co Down.
Sean and Eamon are now the second generation, with the original founders, John and Joe Doherty – having first set-up the business in 1977. From humble beginnings, the growth of Doherty Build over the past 39 years has been remarkable.
Indeed the success of the company has now grown to the stage where it is now a multi award-winning business.
“We had the advantage of being involved in the family construction firm from an early age, right through to achieving our professional qualifications. This
“Things have started to pick up since the downturn now and I think the fact that we carry out a lot of the roles ourselves has helped us to stay competitive down through the years.”
The rave reviews Doherty Build has earned for the professional manner in which they carry out their projects helps too, with the good word spreading via their customers’ satisfaction.
Irish rugby star Rory Best was one of those satisfied customers after Doherty Build recently put the final touches on his house, so much so that his brother Simon has decided to go with the same company for the construction of his home as well.
Those are high-profile projects which any company in Ireland would love to have in their portfolio, but for Sean the one that sits on top of the pile was officially opened in the early part of this year.
Ground was first broken on the Lordship Children’s Respite Centre in Co Louth in April of 2013, completed in May 2014 and since its official opening in February, the awards seemed to have been piling up for Doherty Build.
The idea for the centre first came from local business man John Hanlon, and when he passed away after a long battle with Motor Neuron Disease his family and the local community kept his dream alive.
The Maria Goretti Foundation was established soon after his death and from the outset, the family wanted a building with a warm, attractive design to welcome the children. Rooted at the heart of their plans was to create a place that felt like a “home from home” to the kids.
The Lordship Children’s Respite Centre is located in County Louth and provides a much needed service for families of children with physical, sensory and learning disabilities. It enables parents and carers have a break from the often challenging demands of providing full time care.
The project involved construction of eight bedrooms each with en-suite, arranged around a centrally located enclosed courtyard and play area.
The Maria Goretti Foundation wanted to fully explore what level of care could be facilitated in the centre. In order to achieve this, it was imperative to visit similar facilities and to initiate timely communication with the HSE and other health professionals, to avail of their knowledge in this area. This was in turn utilised, to ensure innovative systems were installed to allow for a versatile and future-proof facility, which would meet the specific requirements and needs of the users.
I discussed with Sean some of the unique features of the building and challenges encountered during the construction phase.
He explained that for the future viability of the project and with the end user in mind, the client was keen to keep running costs as low as possible. Eurotech were chosen to install their state of the art renewable Air Source Heat Pump and underfloor heating system. Incorporated in this, was an Intelligent Energy Monitoring system and external weather compensators which gather data on heat demand within the building, enabling the system to evolve through time constantly improving its efficiency.
The Mechanical Ventilation and Heat Recovery System (MVHR) in place recycles waste hot air and redistributes tempered fresh air throughout the building, reducing the heat demand for the building.
Air Tightness of a building is a key factor in achieving energy savings. Thorough workmanship in the application of airtight tapes and membranes, combined with a Gypsum Airtite Quiet Plaster Coat to the external walls, has resulted in the building achieving an outstanding rating of less than 1m3/hr/m2. This is the equivalent to Passive Build airtight requirements.
This combination of build quality and award winning renewable technologies have resulted in the building having an exceptionally low heating cost of just € 5.00 per day.
At the midpoint of the contract the Client decided to extended the scope of works, to include the fit out of the 4 bedrooms in Phase 2, as opposed to originally leaving a shell finish. Allied to this the contract period of 52 weeks was shortened by 9 nine weeks in order to meet the altered date for opening by Cardinal Eamon Martin.
Through skilful logistics, on site management and co-ordination of the increased volume of staff, our team worked many late hours and weekends and this ambitious completion date was met. A further benefit to the Client, was a cost reduction in the overall budget, achieved through value engineering at pre-construction stage and lean construction on site.
June saw Doherty Build’s efforts on the Lordship Children’s Respite Centre project dually recognised when they were awarded the Health Project of the Year at the Irish Construction Industry Awards.
The ceremony took place at the Ballsbridge Hotel in Dublin and on the night there were over 350 industry leaders celebrating the best in Irish Construction.
Along with collecting the Health Project of the Year gong, Doherty Build surpassed all expectations on the night when they claimed the top prize – the ‘Overall Excellence in Construction’ award.
“Much to our amazement, we came out on top against the biggest names in the industry to win the overall award and we’re truly delighted,” Sean beamed.
“I have to say it was great recognition for such a worthy project. This could not have been achieved without the hard work of our great team of local professionals, especially Van Djik Architects and ODM Engineers.
“It is a great reward for all the fundraising efforts of the Maria Goretti Foundation, and an incentive to push on in their efforts, for which there can be a great sense of pride in having an award winning building.
“A special mention must go to the Hanlon family, who deserve o much credit for their hard work and dedication on carrying through with this inspirational project to see the dream of the late John Hanlon realised. We are immensely proud to be associated with such great people and a worthy project.”
The services offered include multidisciplinary team support, day respite services and summer camps. Children on respite breaks are provided with social, sport and leisure activities and are also supported in attending their full-time education centres. The centre has recently completed the necessary HIQA certification process to allow for overnight stays.
This new facility has been hugely welcomed in the locality, not only to the families who avail of the service but also to the local economy, in the form of jobs. There are also volunteers from local groups who help with maintenance on site. More recently the local secondary school students have embellished the existing sensory garden by designing, fabricating and installing raised planting beds, a playhouse and an ornamental fountain.
Given the emotive nature of the centre, the local community has come together and this is reflected in their extraordinary fundraising events, such as a Guinness World Record breaking Santa Run, Ploughing and Field day events, car boot sales, to name but a few.
Given the professionalism and goodwill that has gone towards the project, you can be sure that there’ll be more to come for Doherty Build down the line.
Doherty Build
Address:
37 Quay Street,
Dundalk,
Co.Louth
Tel: 042 9336455
Web: www.dohertybuild.com
E-mail: [email protected]
Taken from Building Ireland magazine Vol 2 No 1, Spring 2016
