With the wealth of experience it has amassed over the past four decades, Belfast-based FK Lowry was better equipped than most to overcome the testing challenges that have confronted the construction industry in recent years.
“Our origins date back to 1981 with the creation of FK Piling, which was acquired by Lagan Specialist Contracting Group in 1994,” explains Sam Pyper, who started as a graduate engineer in 2003 and has since progressed through the ranks of contracts engineer, contracts manager and senior contracts manager before being made Director of Piling in April 2020. “Following the acquisition of Lowry McKinney in 2000 and the combination of the two businesses forming FK Lowry Piling, in September 2018 we were rebranded as FK Lowry with our new logo intentionally designed to be similar to that of FK Piling prior to its acquisition by Lagan.”
With such a rich history, its considerable expertise has enabled FK Lowry to operate on a wide variety of projects across the whole of Ireland and the UK, from the tip of Scotland down to the south-coast of England and everywhere in-between. Supporting its activities is a team of 45 employees, consisting of onsite specialised operatives and a highly experienced management team. From a plant perspective, it has a fleet of eight piling rigs, while its precast piles are produced at a dedicated manufacturing facility in Lisburn.
“Whilst we offer multi-discipline piling techniques, our core market is bored piling, both CFA and rotary bored,“ outlines Mr Pyper. “This, in addition to our precast capability, provides our clients with multi-discipline piling solutions, value for money and negates having to contract with different piling contractors on the same project. We also hold Constructionline Platinum and Builder’s Profile Gold accreditations, which provide a great deal of reassurance to our clients.”
Further underlining the quality-led approach that FK Lowry adheres to, the company has developed strong relationships with its plant suppliers, particularly Soilmec, which provides all its hydraulic rotary rigs, while the Finnish company, Junttan, supplies its hydraulic pile driving rigs.
The combination of a strong team and a modern fleet allows FK Lowry to tackle a wide variety of jobs across the whole of Ireland and UK. Recently completed contracts include a prestigious project in Dublin at Wilton Park for LinkedIn, the Translink Transport Hub in Belfast, the Baird & Anchor Hospital in Aberdeen and a number of sites within the Thames Tideway Project in London.
“We’re fortunate that if one of the regional markets in which we operate is cooling down then another tends to be heating up. We also enjoy a significant amount of repeat business from our existing customers, which tells a story about the quality of the work we produce, while we add new clients on a yearly basis too. We’re involved in some major projects at the moment and are currently working on Silvertown Tunnel, another major development in London.”
Its experience has also given FK Lowry the ability to overcome the various hurdles it has faced in recent years, as Mr Pyper highlights: “We believe that these challenges are sent to test us and we’ve always come out the other side stronger. The pandemic was particularly difficult, as the Republic of Ireland was the only European nation to fully stop construction. All sites were closed from early February right the way through to May. Unfortunately we were very busy in Dublin at the time and had a number of rigs there. We therefore had to quickly refocus and fortunately we had just secured the Aberdeen Hospital project, which was going to take four of our rigs. On the back of the successful completion of that job we were able to secure further work in Scotland, in what remains an important region that we have focus on.”
The HGV driver shortage was another challenging factor for FK Lowry relating to the pandemic, as many drivers swapped long distance lorry deliveries for working locally for the major supermarkets. “This was a particular issue for a major pre-cast project we had secured on the east coast of England in Great Yarmouth. The lack of HGV drivers and backloads from the east coast resulted in us paying premium rates just to feed the rigs, and even then loads were limited with only 35% production achieved. We therefore needed to act fast to appease our client and their programme.
“With much planning, an accelerated casting programme and negotiations with our client, we secured a 400t vessel, dispatched no fewer than 99 loads, 8830m and 2,628t of precast piles from our yard to Warrenpoint over a period of 36 hours. We then loaded the ship and set sail down the Irish Sea along the English Channel and into Great Yarmouth where we stacked the piles landside. This ensured we could feed the rigs and meet productions, as well as reducing our carbon footprint for road haulage, so the client was delighted.”
With a proven track record of going that extra mile, sometimes literally, to meet its clients’ expectations, FK Lowry also continues to have one eye firmly on the future in order to keep moving forward.
“We’re committed to keep doing what we do best, and to help us achieve this we have a young talented team coming through led by a raft of experienced construction and civil engineers,” concludes Mr Pyper. “We pride ourselves on the quality of our products, our health and safety standards, and how we present ourselves in-line with the values of the company, such as our honesty and our trustworthiness, to name a few. While we’re in no rush to grow the business too quickly, we do target controlled growth. We will by no means chase turnover and we carefully review our enquiries so as not to stretch our capabilities beyond our limitations. There are some nice projects out there and we’re hopeful we’ll continue to get our share.”
Given the reputation it has built and the capabilities it is able to offer, FK Lowry looks well set to continue securing prestigious projects across Ireland and the UK in the months and years ahead.