Established in 2002, McAndrew Utilities Ltd in Derbyshire has achieved year on year growth to reach its present turnover of circa £11m per annum. Speaking with Building Ireland, co-director Seamus McAndrew told us how the family has never forgotten its Irish roots.
“Don’t forget who you are and where you come from.” The wise old words of American author F Scott Fitzgerald must have rang through the ears of Pat McAndrew when he made the trip across the Channel in what now seems a like a lifetime ago.
The Mayo native made the move to Derby way back in 1954, with steady work being his top priority and over the ensuing years he married his wife and started a family.
In 2002, McAndrew Utilities Ltd was founded by his two sons Seamus and Sean and today the company turns over £11m per annum. Continuous reinvestment in resources, personnel and assets have resulted in McAndrew Utilities Ltd becoming a valued brand company with both direct employees and sub-contractors which are highly committed to delivering quality civil engineering and construction solutions across a wide range of disciplines.
Headquartered on the Alfreton Road in Derby, McAndrews’ covers the entire UK and specialises in utility, civil engineering and construction, with the capability of delivering any scheme in range of £500 to £2,000,000.
Seamus McAndrew has been involved in construction and civil engineering work all of his life and explained about the family company which he is a co-director of, along with his brother. “We’re in Chester Court on the Alfreton Road in Derby and we’re established since 2002,” explained Seamus, who now has a family of his own that travel to Ireland on an annual basis.
“Right now we have 120 working for us. My brother Sean and I are directors. I worked for my father when he had a few gangs and learnt all that I know from him, when Sean was old enough, he worked alongside us. In 2002 Sean and I started what we are today. “Basically we do work for the water industry and also work in gas, drainage, framework and civil engineering as well.” While Seamus and Sean handle the day to day operations of McAndrew Utilities Ltd, the history behind the company largely comes down to what their father worked on during his career and the similar path that they followed.
“My father worked a few different jobs when he came out here first and then started working down the pits for a while,” said Seamus. “Then he went into gas work a few years later and took the decision to start working for himself in 1978, Sean and I formed McAndrew Utilities and have taken it to different heights, dad is still in the office though, he comes in every day, he loves it, he even does the hoovering when needed!”
Buildings, Water and Highways are three of the major kinds of projects which McAndrew Utilities have taken on over the past 14 years, with some certain projects in value of over £100m.
In 2004, the company provided 20 of their skilled staff to participate in a £5m refurbishing contract at the Meadowhall shopping centre in Sheffield.
The project required replacement of the existing drainage system to all car parks and repairing structural cracks to the concrete surrounding the car parks. McAndrews’ special projects division worked on this project carrying out the new technology of Tri-Flexing. During the contract the workforce substantially increased, authenticating the quality of workmanship.
With regard to Water Projects, McAndrew Utilities are proud to say that they have the title of being Severn Trent Water preferred contractor.
“Over the last 11 years we have completed approximately 60 million pounds worth of work for STW projects, we have worked in collaboration with companies such as McAlpines’, Carillion and presently Laing O’Rourke, our knowledge of the water industry is immense, our workforce are highly skilled which makes us an attractive firm to work with” said Seamus.
“We have recently began a contract for Thames Water, and hope that our relationship will be as valued with them as it is with STW”.
So far as highway work goes, McAndrews’ have gained a glowing reputation for road building and the experience gained in working in other sectors has allowed them to deliver a focused team able to meet the challenges of modern road construction.
The company has an enviable track record and reputation for highway work, including working on the G.C.H.Q contract at Cheltenham. So it’s safe to say that things are going very well for the company which isn’t even a decade and a half old yet. “We’re doing well here at the minute thankfully,” Seamus stated. “There was a bit of a downturn there and we would have felt it, but construction has turned around again now so hopefully things will stay busy.”
Despite the increasingly busy times, Seamus remains a man who hasn’t forgotten his roots either, having followed in his father’s footsteps by plying his trade on the football field during his younger years. “My father started playing with St Colman’s in Derby when he first came over here,” he explained. “He would have played club football in Mayo before he moved to Derby in 1954 and he was involved with St Joe’s when they formed in 1984 and in the first year they won the John F Kennedy. “I’d have started playing for St Joe’s in the 1980s but it stopped then for a while and when it reformed in 2010, I was honoured to be elected as vice-chairman. “We won the league and championship last year and I’m proud to be a part of it during what was a historic year for the club.” Seamus’s son Caolan played with the club before recently moving to Auckland, where he’s keeping up the family tradition by lining out the Marist Rangers GAA club.
Next year, Seamus and his family will be hoping that Mayo can finally end their hoodoo for the Sam Maguire, having recently appointed a new manager in Stephen Rochford. “We go back to Mayo at least once a year, our daughter was married in Belmullet last August, it was a great few days, and I’ve been to quite a few Connacht finals, and never missed an All-Ireland Final since 1989!” he stated.
“They’ve a good panel now at the minute but then again I thought they’d win it back in 1989. I can’t believe they haven’t won once since then with the finals they’ve been to and the teams they’ve had but hopefully 2016 will be their year.”
Only time will tell.
McAndrew Utilities Ltd
Address: Suite 17, Chester Court, Alfreton Rd, Derby DE21 4AB, United Kingdom
Phone: +44 1332 203745
Web: mcandrewutilities.co.uk (currently under construction)
Taken from Building Ireland magazine, Spring 2016, Vol 2, No 1
