Olympic dream
December 30, 2010When the Irish economy started to tilt and wobble a couple of years back, several major construction companies across the country were faced with some stark choices.
For P Elliott & Company Ltd, the renowned Co Cavan firm, a broadening of horizons was the course of choice, and the UK its chosen destination. A close relationship with German supermarket retail giant Lidl had been fostered in Ireland in previous years, so when the chance arose to tender for two Lidl projects in London, the crew at P Elliott were always going to grasp the opportunity. If one good job can lead to another, the dominoes have started to tumble with P Elliott landing two major contracts on the Olympic project in east London over the past 12 months.
For Gareth Cooney, the Ballyjamesduff man who had worked for P Elliott for a number of years on these shores, it meant making a permanent move to the English capital, but he insists that when the prospect was first mooted, he didn't have to think twice about boarding a boat bound for new horizons.
"It was important for P Elliott as a whole that we branched out," he tells Breffni Blue. "The writing was on the wall for the last couple of years in Ireland that with credit and banking problems there was no money available to carry out any development. So we had to go somewhere to broaden our horizons, and the nearest market was London. London is also the only market in Europe at the moment - there's nothing going on anywhere else.
"A lot of that is down to the Olympic development, not just directly related to the Olympic project itself but also spin-off projects in infrastructure, hotel-building, etc. There is loads of work in London that is a by-product of the 2012 Olympics. They still consider this to be a recession but it's no recession in comparison to what has been happening in Ireland over the last few years."
Gareth outlines the chronology of events which have seen P Elliott go from a firm with no presence in the English market less than two years ago to one which now conducts approximately a third of its business across the Irish Sea, while further expansion is in the pipeline with the company currently exploring projects as far afield as Libya and Saudi Arabia.
"We had done a lot of work for Lidl in Ireland and we were just beginning to investigate the English market when we discovered that they were putting two jobs out to tender," he says. "Lidl like to increase their number of stores by 10 per cent per annum and when they heard that we were looking to broaden our horizons into the UK, they invited us to tender for the two jobs, in east and west Croydon. Fortunately enough we won both contracts, so in March 2009 we immediately packed our bags and headed out."
The move across the water was one which proceeded with barely a hitch: instead of launching a time-consuming and costly recruitment drive in London, 30 of P Elliott's Irish-based staff made the move, with all plant, machinery, equipment and company vehicles making the journey in double-quick time.
"It's a market that is quite close to Ireland in so many ways," says Gareth. "It was easily accessible for us and although it's a different currency it's not that difficult to adjust - we changed from pounds to euro ourselves not so long ago. We loaded up artics and brought all our cabins and equipment over. With the staff coming over, they all brought the company vans so we were able to bring everything over very quickly. It was all done in the space of a few days."
The Lidl projects gave P Elliott & Company Ltd a presence in the UK market at a crucial time, and with work continuing apace ahead of the London Olympic Games in 2012, the company succeeded in winning two major contracts as part of the overall project.
Gareth explains: "Half-way through the Lidl jobs, on the strength of having been in the UK already and with our experience in the residential sector in Ireland, we got the job to construct Plot N14 of the Olympic athletes' village. We were priced against all the big guys in England and luckily enough we won it. It consists of over 200 apartments, which will serve as accommodation for athletes during the games and will subsequently be converted to social housing during the 'legacy mode' of the Olympics.
"The athletes' village job has also helped us secure further contracts in London, including the IBC, the International Broadcasting Centre, which will host all the broadcasters from around the world during the games. The award of the contract was a standalone, separate process to the athletes' village project but I'm sure the fact that we were already on board and carried out work successfully elsewhere on the Olympic project was of benefit to us. The International Broadcasting Centre is a hugely important job - without it billions of people around the world wouldn't get to see the Games."
As any athlete who has competed at the Olympic Games would no doubt attest, taking part in the quadrennial extravaganza is usually the highlight of their respective careers. From a business perspective, the prestige is no less pronounced, and all in P Elliott & Company rightly consider leading two major elements of the Olympic project as a major feather in the firm's collective cap.
"It's a magnificent accomplishment to be involved in the Olympics," says Gareth. "It just doesn't get any better than that. Because we're working for such high-end clients, the procedures are as professional as you could possibly get. There are a lot of criteria, regulations, health and safety procedures to abide by, so it's phenomenally difficult, but to be associated with the Olympics then you must know what you're doing, so it reflects exceptionally well on us as an organisation."
A native of Ballyjamesduff, with father James hailing from Termon, Killinkere, Gareth Cooney is ingrained in the Cavan sporting scene. Handball was his sport of choice during his school days at St Patrick's College while he subsequently helped Total Fitness Malahide to Dublin league and cup successes in squash.
As befits a Cavan man with an obvious interest in sport, Gareth follows the fortunes of the county team on the GAA fields of Ulster and Ireland, although the move to the UK almost two years ago means he has had to be content to watch progress from afar in recent times.
"I'd have a keen interest in Gaelic football," he says. "When championship comes around everyone in Cavan pays close attention to how things are going. Being based in England I haven't made it to many games over the last year or two but maybe if they were able to climb the ladder a bit and were challenging for an Ulster title again I'd be heading to the airport a bit more often. We have a new management team in Val Andrews and Terry Hyland for 2011, and I'd like to wish them both well in their endeavours to revive the fortunes of Cavan football." Tweet
