Shannon Valley Ltd is celebrating 25 years in the plant hire and site development contracting business. Founded by Michael English, the well-known and highly-regarded company currently has 30 different projects ongoing nationwide.
Shannon Valley Ltd, or Shannon Valley Plant Hire & Site Development Contractors to give it its longer name, is headed by the Drumshanbo, Co. Leitrim native, whose brothers David and Dermot are also directors in the company. Based in Donabate, Co. Dublin, Shannon Valley also runs a busy quarry in Rathcoole in south Dublin under the guise of Lacquara Ltd. Built 10 years ago on a three-acre site, the 10,000 sq. ft. premises in Donabate consists of a warehouse, workshop, office and spacious yard.
The family-run business provides an array of site development and civil engineering services, ranging from demolition and road construction to bulk excavation and drainage. Shannon Valley constantly strives to exceed client expectations on quality, service and cost. This has led to many repeat customers.
Michael and his team of highly-skilled and experienced staff listen to their customers’ needs and are always willing to go the extra mile to ensure all projects undertaken are completed to the highest standard. Every job, regardless of the size, receives the same level of attention to detail to ensure unrivalled customer service. The company also places a strong emphasis on health and safety.
Shannon Valley specialises in bulk excavation, on site or off site development, civil engineering, deep pipelines and rock excavation. It operates a wide range of plant, including excavators from one to 80 tonnes, dump trucks from 25 to 40 tonnes, a full range of tippers as well as Komatsu dozers and rockbreakers.
In recent years, the Shannon Valley Group has expanded to incorporate Lacquara Ltd and Sadong Ltd. Lacquara Ltd supplies crushed stone products from the aforementioned quarry in Rathcoole which are subject to rigorous quality checks and are used for drainage and capping purposes. The types of stone supplied include Clause 804, Clause 808 and the new SR21 Annex E specification.
Sadong Ltd was set up six years ago as the international division of Shannon Valley following the collapse of the Irish construction sector. For three years, Sadong worked as a major subcontractor for Budimex SA on the construction of a 14km stretch of motorway and 26km of secondary roads in the Rzeszow area of Poland, carrying out earthworks as well as the haulage of materials.
Shannon Valley was also the main earthworks contractor on the M50 Upgrade Scheme, which was one of the largest road schemes to go to construction in the history of Ireland, involving a €1 billion investment in four years. The Upgrade Scheme represented a major enhancement to Dublin’s orbital motorway, including widening of the mainline between the M1 and the Sandyford interchange, the upgrade of the M1/N4/N7 interchanges to free-flowing systems, and the improvement of the remaining junctions.
The Upgrade Scheme has led to significantly improved journey times into and out of Dublin, and from the M1 to the M11, as well as to increased road capacity which leads to improved traffic flows and congestion relief.
“That was probably our most high-profile contract to date,” managing director Michael says.
“We worked alongside M50 Concession Ltd between 2008 and 2010 before spending the next three years in Poland. The work had dried up in Ireland by then and we had no option but to go overseas. Thankfully, things have started to pick up again at home and we’re back working full-time here. Dublin is buoyant enough at the moment and we have some site development work going on down the country. We have 30 different projects ongoing between residential site development, demolition and bulk excavation.
“We have, however, seen a slowdown in the residential sector due to the new mortgage rules which were introduced at the start of the year and restrict mortgage lending. But the overall picture is a lot brighter than it was a year or two ago.”
Over the past quarter of a century, Shannon Valley Ltd has grown into one of the most reputable plant hire, site development and civil engineering contractors in the country. The company prides itself on a strong management team and skilled workforce with a focus on delivery of a quality service, designed to the individual needs of its clients.
Here’s to the next 25 years!
Shannon Valley Ltd
Unit 12,
Shannon Valley Centre,
Roseville,
Turvey Lane,
Donabate,
Co. Dublin.
Telephone: 01 8138082
Mobile: 086 2550284
Fax: 01 8107653
E: [email protected]
Taken from Building Ireland magazine Vol 1 No 2, Winter 2015
