Since its inception in 1978, Duggan Systems Ltd in Co Limerick has developed into one of Ireland’s leading window door and facade contractors. Building Ireland caught up with the company’s Managing Director John Duggan, who gave us the lowdown on what they’re all about.
Based in Patrickswell in Co Limerick, the company is officially known as Duggan Systems Ltd Architectural Aluminium & Glazing Contractors. Today however, the company offers complete facade solutions and continues to lead the way in the designing, manufacturing and installing all kinds of façade systems for contractors and clients.
Dedication and commitment to top quality at every stage of the process along with a professional approach has amassed a rock solid reputation for the company, all throughout Ireland. As a result this has seen them gaining contracts for some of the most high-profile glazing and facade projects in the country in recent times.
John outlined what they do, while also giving us some background of how it came to be.
“My father Bernard Duggan comes from a long line of glass processors, his family’s business Duggan Glass and Mirror LTD have been in business for over 150years. In 1978 Bernard set up on his own.
“Through the 1980s, we went from doing residential projects to working on commercial projects and have continued to grow since then. In 1991 we completed Apple Computers first venture outside the US in Hollyhill in Cork and since then we count numerous blue chip and fortune five hundred companies among our clients.”
John himself has officially been a part of the team for almost 20 years now, but he revealed that he first started working with the company before he was even a teenager.
“I’m officially working with the company since 1998, but I’ve been coming here to work from when I was 10 years of age doing summer work,” he stated.
Fast-forward nearly 20 years later and things are going very well right now which is something he is proud to report.
“Currently most of our work is concentrated in and around the Dublin area, but we’ve done plenty of work around the country and still continue to do so,” John outlined.
“We survived some challenging years during the downturn by concentrating on different school projects that were announced by the government. We estimate that over the last five years we have carried out in excess of 75% of the school building projects carried out within the republic along with numerous projects in the north.”
The family owned outfit also have a highly trained workforce and place major emphasis on their in-house technical abilities.
“We are very proud of our team at Duggan Systems,” said the MD. “A considerable number of staff have over 20 years’ experience with us. Our 100 plus workforce are very highly skilled, all working to highest standards and are committed to continuous professional development. This combined with a state of the art production facility gives us immense capabilities.
“Very recently we have added a top of the range automatic cutting and machining centre and we are always looking at ways to improve efficiency.”
Their products include full range of all types of stick curtain walling, unitised curtain walling, windows, doors and high end cladding systems such as stone, terracotta tile and Tegral Equitone.
They also supply and install a full range of ancillary products such as brise soleil, revolving doors and much more.
So why do clients tend to choose Duggan Systems Ltd first?
“We guarantee a high quality product and service at affordable prices.” John quipped. “That’s the best way to put it, I think, and we’ve always believed that to be true.”
The evidence can certainly be seen all over the country to back up John’s statement. With flagship buildings in almost all of Irelands major University Campuses such as the science building at UCD, the long room Hub at Trinity, the engineering building at NUI Galway, the western Gateway at UCC and the Kemmy Business School at UL Limerick. On top of this we have completed some of the largest primary and post primary school buildings in the country such as PPP bundles 1, 2 and 3 and numerous rapid build projects.
Evidently, the company is now on an upswing from the recession years and the man in charge seems committed to capitalizing on this.
“We are always interested in ways to grow the company and stay at the top of our game,” he said.
“Expansion is definitely something that we’re looking into at the moment and we’ve a couple of new projects coming up now in the second part of the year, so we’re happy to be kept busy with those for the next couple of months and we already have a strong order book for 2017.”
Duggan Systems Ltd
Address: Patrickswell,
Co Limerick
Telephone: 061-355377
Web: duggansystems.ie
E-mail:
[email protected]
Taken from Building Ireland magazine, July 2016, Vol 2, No 3
