Just a few years ago, Shane Savage was driving lorries around England, daydreaming about owning a digger of his own. Today, he heads up one of Northern Ireland’s fastest-growing groundworks companies — and earned a place on the shortlist for the 2025 Irish Construction Industry Awards.
Shane’s journey into construction didn’t follow a straight path. Raised on a farm in County Down, he developed a natural feel for machinery from a young age. After years behind the wheel of articulated lorries, he realised his true ambition lay elsewhere.
“I’d always had this notion that I wanted my own diggers,” he recalls. “Groundworks appealed to me because it’s busy, it’s hands-on, and you can really see the results of your effort.”
In April 2021, with just a single six-ton JCB, Shane launched Savage Groundworks. The early days were tough, filled with small garden and patio jobs that kept him afloat. But by January 2022, he landed his first subcontract on a building site — and things began to snowball. Within months, he was running several sites and taking on employees.
Fast forward to today, Savage Groundworks operates nine excavators alongside a growing fleet of dumpers and rollers, with a team of 18 skilled operatives. The company has taken on large-scale projects across Northern Ireland and beyond, from Monaghan and Cavan to as far south as Tipperary.
Among its standout achievements is the Lidl superstore in Coleraine — the retailer’s largest and most energy-efficient store in Northern Ireland. Working under tight deadlines, Shane’s team delivered the full groundworks package, from drainage to finishing works, on time and to exceptional standards. Another highlight was the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen’s University Belfast, where the company carried out intricate drainage and granite paving works with precision.
Despite the rapid growth, Shane hasn’t lost his hands-on passion: “Ninety per cent of my time is spent managing sites, but any chance I get, I’ll hop on a machine. It’s what I love, and it keeps me connected to the work.”
Building a reliable team has been just as important as building the business. “Good men are hard to find in this trade,” he admits, “but I’ve got a steady crew now. Looking after the machinery is vital, and I can trust them with it. That gives me real peace of mind.”
The company’s hard work and steady growth recently earned wider recognition with an Irish Construction Industry Award nomination. Interestingly, Shane hadn’t even planned to put the business forward. “You could say it was ambitious to apply, given how young the company is,” he says. “My wife actually put the submission in without me knowing, and it was a really nice surprise to hear we’d been shortlisted. When news like that comes through, it makes all the effort worthwhile.”
Shane credits much of the company’s reputation to word of mouth and a strong presence on social media, but ultimately, he believes the success comes down to one thing: quality. “Whether it’s a big commercial job or a small private project, I put the same effort into every job. I think people see that, and that’s why they come back.”
Now, with a string of prestigious projects behind him and national recognition on the horizon, Shane is looking to the future. One of his next steps is to invest in his own heavy haulage fleet, giving the business greater control over its operations.
It’s an ambitious move — but ambition has never been in short supply at Savage Groundworks. From a single digger to national recognition in just over four years, Shane’s story is proof of what passion, determination, and hard work can achieve.
Savage Groundworks
117 Old Park Road,
Drumaness,
Ballynahich,
County Down.
Tel: +44 7510 359745
Email: [email protected]
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, Winter 2025, Vol 11 No 14
