Portlaoise-headquartered John Conlon Construction has a busy calendar year ahead, which is rather poignant as 2026 also happens to mark this industry-leading building contracting and civil engineering company’s 25th anniversary. Building Ireland touched base with the eponymous John for a brief update on activities.
There’s no denying that John Conlon Construction has come a long way since the family business was established by the husband-and-wife team of John and Deirdre Conlon at the turn of the new millennium. Since its inception in 2001, the company has firmly established itself as one of the most respected and in-demand building and civil engineering contractors in the midlands.
Moving into another new year – one that will see even more high-quality commercial and industrial projects delivered for a who’s who of clients – hands-on proprietor John is delighted that all the hard work has paid off so far, with John Conlon Construction celebrating a quarter of a century in business:
“It’s a nice landmark to reach and you have to wonder where does the time go, because it certainly doesn’t seem that long,” the Laois contractor comments. “We’ve always been focused on delivering quality end products and looking after our customers. Thankfully that has seen the business go from strength to strength.
“The best way to look after your clients is by bringing exceptional workmanship to every project. That has always been our main focus and we set a very high standard from the beginning. The aim now going forward is to make sure we maintain those standards and keep providing excellent workmanship so that we can continue to get repeat work from satisfied clients and also attract new clients.”
At the time of writing, John Conlon Construction was engaged on a number of sites, delivering trademark excellence across the board. These projects include a groundworks package at Mountmellick Primary School and an extension at TRI Equestrian in Newbridge, County Kildare.
Meanwhile, John Conlon Construction has also been awarded the contract for an expansion of Alpha Drives Ltd’s operations in Portlaoise.
“We came in at the tail-end of the first phase, when they moved to their new premises in Portlaoise in 2023 and are delighted to be working with Alpha Drives again on this exciting new project,” says John. “It’s a fabulous extension, which will greatly increase their production capacity. We’re going to be pouring the floors there in January and will be finished the work in February / March.
“Generally, we tend to work on a number of projects at once and as we finish one we’ll move on to another one. We provide the best possible service and the work comes through word of mouth and repeat business more so than advertising or going out looking for work. We also get recommendations through engineers who know what we are capable of and know they can trust us to get the job done.”
Another recently-delivered project was the doubling in size of an industrial storage unit in Bagenalstown Industrial Park, County Carlow, while John Conlon Construction also successfully delivered a landmark turnkey 2,500 square metres warehousing unit on a greenfield site for Lagan Building Solutions at Melitta Road in Kildare town.
John and his trusty team also regularly work for a number of local authorities and installed a walking track a couple of years back for their local GAA club, The Rock in Mountmellick.
The company also takes on a steady stream of infrastructural and civils works for Laois County Council.
John and Deirdre have assembled a highly-skilled and motivated in-house crew of ten, supplemented by an extended team of trusted subcontractors and suppliers, all of whom buy into the exacting ethos of this wonderful family business.
Heading into the company’s 25th anniversary year, John was proud to confirm that he’s busier than ever with a healthy order book of works in the pipeline: “We’re going to be very busy in 2026,” he told Building Ireland. “We’re busier than ever, to be honest, doing a lot of industrial and commercial work, and it seems to be ramping up, so we have to make sure we have everything in place to keep performing to the highest standards. In construction, you are only as good as your last project, so there’s no room for complacency.”
It may have been their 25th anniversary but the focus is on continuing the progress achieved so far. “We’ll take it one day at a time and continue to give every project and client our undivided attention,” John concludes.
“We’ve come a long way and are in a good place but you can’t be thinking ahead or losing focus. The goal is simple: to keep doing good work and looking after all of our customers and their projects. We’re going to keep doing the best we can, providing the best possible service and high levels of workmanship.
“We’ve grown nicely to get to where we are today but you have to make sure you keep control and that the growth is sustainable, that you never compromise on quality or service levels. If you go too big, you’ll lose that personal touch. We’re not going to relinquish that.
“We’ve got a good reputation and an unbelievable amount of work and dedication has gone into that – that’s why we’re still here after 25 years, so our approach is going to be more of the same.”
John Conlon Construction Ltd.,
Clondouglas,
Portlaoise,
County Laois.
Mobile: 087 7997290
Email: [email protected].
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, April 2026, Vol 12 No 4
featured, John Conlon Construction
