Part of McGrath Group Properties, Randalswood Construction is a leader in the industry when it comes to quality, design focused and sustainable developments. Building Ireland spoke with General Manager Kevin Codd to find out more about the ins and outs of this thriving business and the projects it has on-going at the moment.
McGrath Group Properties is in operation more than 40 years and was founded by PJ, Tom and Mary McGrath. In that time, the company has amassed a portfolio of mixed-use developments, apartment blocks, build to rent schemes, hotels offices and retail.
Randalswood Construction Ltd is the construction division of the McGrath Group and Kevin Codd has been its General Manager for four years now.
Building Ireland touched base with Kevin recently to hear about its nomination as a finalist at May’s Irish Construction Excellence (ICE) Awards and the overall state of business at the minute for the company.
“Right now, we have approximately 50 direct staff employed and we have some good schemes ongoing, but there are so many challenges out there with the supply chain,” he outlined.
“It has been challenging with Covid and there has been pressure in the market but the projects are continuing, so overall we’re in a good position.”
Kevin’s own background sees him having been immersed in the construction industry for the best part of two decades now.
Having had a stint working in the UK, he’s been part of the McGrath Group team for almost half a decade now.
“I was in commercial management and worked in the UK for some big main contractors,” said Kevin.
“I’d have a very commercial driven background and I think it has helped with the work I do here.
“Our supply chain is good. We do all of the planning and design ourselves, so we would be very much a development contractor.
“It is a bit different to what I did in my previous post, but I’m maybe 18 years in the industry now altogether.”
Since joining the team at the McGrath Group in 2018, Kevin has been involved in numerous projects as Randalswood Construction’s GM.
The Covid-19 pandemic, and the government lockdowns which followed in order to combat the spread of the virus, have, of course, seen some challenges along the way for the company but it seems business is thriving presently.
Right now, Randalswood Construction Ltd is working on three different residential projects which totals approx 500 apartments.
“We’re also doing developments in the UK and in Germany, which includes one development for a 200-bed hotel with 135 apartments and multi storey carpark, and separate developments totalling another 170 units.”
That considered, the burning question is what has been the secret behind the company’s success down through the years?
The way Kevin sees it, the McGrath Group is very much tried and trusted at this stage and clients know that they can depend on them to deliver quality developments time and time again.
“I suppose it’s down to the fact that we’ve been established since the early 1980s and we always put a big emphasis on good quality and attention to detail with our projects,” he stated.
Earlier this year, Randalswood Construction Ltd was announced a finalist at the 2022 Irish Construction Excellence (ICE) Awards in the Residential – Social & Affordable Housing Over €10m category.
The nomination was for the company’s work on the Halliday Mills, Dundalk project which was handed over to clients Co-Operative Housing Ireland (CHI) in December 2021.
Randalswood Construction Ltd’s GM was able to fill us in on the details of a hugely successful project in Louth’s county town.
“The project in Dundalk was a derelict building that was abandoned from 2008 and we took it over just as it was about to go to CPO,” said Kevin.
“We bought the building and went in with CHI to develop it and converted it into 73 apartments in the existing building and 12 rooftop extension apartments. So, all in all it was 85 units.
“There was a lot of emphasis on energy efficiency with the project and it was a challenging one in trying to turn it into something new and modern. The BER’s were improved from D rating to A rating.
“It took about 16 to 18 months overall and, in the end, it was a very successful project which the client was very happy with.”
Complete in November 2021, the project was handed over to CHI the following month.
Reflecting on it now, Kevin describes the Halliday Mills project as very much being “a success story”.
“It was a great scheme and CHI were keen to nominate the project because they felt it was a success story after it was brought back from being abandoned,” he said.
“It had a unique selling point and CHI asked us to submit an application, and the Irish Construction Awards seemed very impressed by it.”
At a gala event on May 14th at the Convention Centre in Dublin, Randalswood Contruction were winners of a Judges Silver Award for the Halliday Mills project.
Looking towards the coming months for the business, Kevin said he is eager to see the company continue progressing and hopefully get some good news on the plannings they currently have lodged.
After that, he hopes that Randalswood Construction and indeed the group as a whole can continue on the same path they have been on as of late.
“We just want to keep going like we’re going at the minute and hopefully it can stay like that into next year,” he concluded.
McGrath Group Properties
The Brenton Suite,
36 Mount Street Upper,
Dublin 2
Tel: + 353 (0)1 6293366
E-mail: [email protected]
E-mail: [email protected]
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, July 2022, Vol 8 No 7
