In the line of fire

Mather+Platt are the Fire Protection Engineers on the ground-breaking Croke Park development. Hogan Stand takes a look at the company, part of the ninth fastest-growing group in the world.

Croke Park is rapidly becoming one of the top stadiums in Europe. As the Fire Protection Engineers on this historic development, Mather+Platt is playing its own special part in the Association's finest ever project. Headquartered at 7 Ardee Road, Rathmines, Dublin 6, Mather+Platt is part of the Tyco International group which owns eight different companies in Ireland in a range of services.

The Global turnover for the Tyco Fire and Security section of the group is £5.5B - in fire and security services alone! The group - Tyco - has a presence in fire protection in over 80 countries worldwide. Tyco is rated the ninth fastest growing company in the world. Mather+Platt has been preserving life and protecting property in Ireland since the nineteenth century. The patent for Frederick Grinnell's automatic sprinkler was set up in America in 1882 and Mather+Platt in the UK purchased the rights outside America the following year.

Pat Levins is one of the Project Managers working for Mather+Platt. He is responsible for a number of current projects including the Croke Park development. He has 25 years' experience in the Fire Protection: "We've been working in Croke Park for eighteen months but the main bulk of our work there is only starting to come to us now. We'll be involved right through to the overall project's completion."

Barry Shearman is Sales and Operations Director. He started with Mather+Platt in London in 1965 and came to Ireland in 1972 to set up a branch office in Dublin. "Initially, Croke Park was a tight programme but it has developed more into a day-to-day project. We have a very flexible service force and have the facility for 24-hour service which means our personnel can turn up as and when needed."

The overall design scope of the project was given to Mather+Platt after extensive consultations between the projects Consultants and the local Fire Officer. This involves the installation of an automatic sprinkler system fitted in certain strategically chosen elements of the new structure to ensure that the general public has sufficient protection and ease of access and exit in the event of fire.

The majority of the work is unseen to the public [the infrastructure is fitted into the shell of the building] and is located either above the ceilings or below ground level. All work is carried out to the very highest of European safety and building requirements because, as Pat so succinctly puts it: "when sprinklers are used, they are used to protect life".

All sprinkler systems are subjected to maintenance service. All moving parts will be checked on a regular basis to ensure the smooth and efficient running of the system.

Mather+Platt (Ireland) Ltd. is part of the Tyco group of locally managed businesses and has been providing fire protection and safety systems in Ireland for over a century. The objective is to recommend, provide and maintain optimal fire and safety solutions for all risks, irrespective of
technology or approvals required.

Within its individual departments, the company has considerable resources in both manpower and technology to offer a Total Fire Protection service to all applications, including commercial and retail buildings, manufacturing and power generation plants, processing plants, chemical plants, government institutions etc.

The group employs over 2,000 engineers and manages over five million man-hours of installation each year. In Ireland, twelve engineers/designers use the most modern computer-aided design technology and manage 80,000 man-hours of installation per year.

Only the highest quality components are used and warranties and maintenance contracts are provided for all systems. As part of the Tyco group, Mather+Platt (Ireland) has the support of over 200 people dedicated to product research and development, allowing them to resolve all specific fire protection challenges.

The company is ISO 9001 approved and is a certificated LPS1048 installer of sprinkler systems.