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Kirby approach drives expansionWILL MANNKirby opened its first UK office in 2008 – not the best year for any constructionbusiness to expand, but Kirby had an ace in the hole.

Its initial UK job was for electrical giant Siemens, which having admired Kirby’s work in Ireland, invited the firm to tackle a power station project in Southampton. Repeat business for Siemens, and other high-profile clients like GSK, has helped the firm’s UK revenue soar to £35m – almost a third of group turnover.

Group managing director Fergus Frawley says the secret of Kirby’s success is its high level of service and niche engineering expertise.

“We have a reputation for finding innovative engineering solutions in difficult build environments and in short timelines,” he says.

Kirby was established in 1964 in Limerick, Ireland, and is a privately owned company overseen by executive chairman, Jimmy Kirby. Core sectors include utilities, pharmaceutical, industrial and data centres.

Mr Frawley says Kirby’s policy is to

COMPANY PROFILEKirby has a reputation for fi nding innovative engineering solutions in di� cult building environments and o� ers services such as mechanical piping, design & engineering, HVAC and BIM

1964 - Founded by Tom and Michael Kirby in Limerick as Kirby Electrical2008 – Opened first UK office in London2014 – Opened first European office in BrusselsSeven offices: Dublin, Galway, Limerick, London, Warrington, Glasgow, Brussels600 staff (100 in UK)£100m Group turnover£35m UK turnoverServices – Mechanical piping; HVAC; electrical; power transmission and distribution; design and engineering; turnkey solutions

KIRBY FACTFILE

“get close to clients, and work with them on an early engagement basis, providing support during the design and costing phases”.

Worthy approachKirby has delivered three UK projects for pharma giant GSK that it says illustrates this approach. Work has included £10m of complex refurbishment work at its Worthing facility, involving full M&E and process piping installation.

“Our clients bring us in at preconstruction stage to review design and constructability,” Mr Frawley explains. “In the pharmaceutical world, you are often working in a confined space with lots of services. If you don’t get the design right, it leads to delays in the construction. Our approach merges design and construction philosophies so that the client gets an optimum design that is clash free.”

Kirby uses building information modelling on most projects, says Mr Frawley. “We have a team of 10 BIM modellers and recently spent £75,000 on a 3D scanner to create point clouds which we turn into BIM models.

“We can carry out a scan of the building which can then be turned

into a 3D model of the site. We can use that to design and plan the HVAC and electrical installation.” Kirby is also using BIM to increase the amount of offsite manufacturing on its projects.

“We worked on a recent data centre project where we could prefabricate and install all our mechanical pipework before any walls had been installed, thanks to the BIM model,” says Mr Frawley. “We try to instil ‘lean’ principles into the business, and obviously the more construction work you can move into the factory, the leaner you can become.”

Principal contractor, tooThe specialist nature of Kirby’s work means it can act as principal contractor on its projects.

“On data centres, clients are happy for us to manage other packages like civils or roofing because they know we understand the mission critical nature of the work,” says Mr Frawley.

In wind energy, where Kirby has 15 years of experience, it can provide a full turnkey service encompassing design, installation and commissioning.

“In Ireland, we have connected more windfarms than any contractor,”

says Mr Frawley. “In the UK, our business is increasing, and we have a framework with Scottish Power constructing substations up to 132 kV.

“The business requires HV engineers who understand the design parameters and the complications of connecting to the grid. We can also self-commission up to 400 kV – that’s an inhouse service which a lot of our competitors don’t have.

“This kind of specialist expertise cuts across everything we do.”

Mr Frawley expects Kirby’s UK growth to continue steadily: “We’re likely to do £50m in the next couple of years and there are opportunities here to be a £100m-business in five years’ time,” he says.

“We could consider an acquisition, but the cultural fit may be a big challenge; our approach tends to be different to our competitors.”

At present, that approach is working very well.

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PetrochemicalFood & beverageUtilities & renewablesMission criticalBio-pharmaceuticalIndustrial manufacturing

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2014 group sector revenue (%)

Mission critical work at a data centre