With offices in counties Offaly and Donegal, MCF Building Consultants Ltd. provide nationwide quantity surveying and project management services. As this exceptional company celebrates its tenth anniversary, Building Ireland had a chat with founder / managing director Peter McFarlane to find out more.
Established in 2008, MCF Building Consultants work closely with clients to manage project costs on a complete range of buildings, from largescale mixed use development projects to smaller, one-off residential houses and extensions.
Founder / MD Peter McFarlane has extensive experience of all aspects of the construction industry and his approach is based around maximising clients’ budget potential whilst ensuring cost control through every phase of the project
Peter started out as a traditional QS but has gradually added an additional range of core services including project management, construction management, design and planning advice, building surveying, property reports and insurance claims.
A thoroughly professional and flexible operation, tailored towards meeting the precise requirements of each individual client, MCF Building Consultants can offer one-to-one attention to detail on smaller projects whilst at the same time providing the resources to complete large and complex projects nationwide.
With office in Mountcharles, County Donegal and Tullamore, County Offaly, MCF is ideally located to service the Irish construction industry nationwide, offering unrivalled quantity surveying and associated services to main contractors, architects, design teams, developers, subcontractors, private individuals, public and corporate entities the length and breadth of the island.
Having worked with many of the top architectural, engineering and construction firms in Ireland, the practice has quickly established an outstanding reputation for delivering value for money in a highly professional manner on each and every project undertaken, no matter how big or small.
The close-knit team at MCF comprises Peter plus one other QS – his brother, Ciaran – and a small number of office staff. “It’s an ideal size to do large- to medium-sized work and we also give some work to our colleagues when we get too busy, and vice-versa.”
Although work is carried out nationally, there’s a strong local ethos running through the business, which has seen them recently engaged on the new ASD unit at the national school in Clara, County Offaly, which was completed in late 2017, as well as the first-ever Supermacs outlet in County Donegal, which opened in August in Donegal town as part of a plaza which also includes a service station and convenience store, to name just two local projects.
“We never turn down local work in any of our local towns or counties, no matter how small it is,” Peter confirms. “From a €200 survey up to a large commercial development, we embrace local projects and that’s very important to us.”
MCF Building Consultants has evolved organically to provide much more than a traditional quantity surveyor’s service. “Project management for people who are doing direct labour on projects is becoming more common now, for example,” says Peter. “It’s not really about how much a client has to spend but how to maximise that money without affecting the quality of the build. One thing we always do is send out a price document and have everything completely transparent before signing off on any project, from a private house to a €50m development.
Before establishing MCF Building Consultants a decade ago, Peter – a graduate of University of Glanmorgan, Cardiff in Wales – worked for a major PQS firm in Dublin where his first job was Smithfield Market, valued at over €400m and one of the largest in Europe at the time. On this project, he progressed from Junior QS to Intermediate QS before moving on to another Ranelagh-based quantity surveyors, where he gathered a wealth of experience working on largescale housing apartments and commercial developments, including Dundrum Shopping Centre, Tulfarris Blessington Golf Course, Dundrum Cinema and Market Square, Kilcullen as well as a substantial amount of work along the Dublin City Quays on various major projects.
Upon forming MCF, one of his first contracts was with international medical packaging company, Steripack, in Clara, County Offaly. Other early projects included Hewlett Packard in Celbridge, the refurbishment of the Iranian Embassy in Dublin, the restoration of numerous old Georgian houses and the Clock Tower in Naas for Kildare County Council & various school project.
Some recent projects include Mount Carmel and Villa Marie Nursing Homes in Roscrea as well as the aforementioned Supermacs in Donegal town. At the time of writing, Peter was working for Goffs Bloodstock Sales in Kill, County Kildare and an extremely interesting sustainable campsite development (including mud huts and hay-bale buildings) on the banks of the Grand Canal in Edenderry for architect Keith Daly.
“We take on a lot of work on large housing estates and one-off homes, dealing with costs, feasibility studies, cross management and budget control,” Peter continues. “We set up originally in Tullamore and the core of our business is in the midlands region, working with local developers and architects. We also work extensively in Dublin, Kildare, Westmeath, Laois, Kilkenny, Meath, Wicklow and Tipperary while the Donegal branch – which I opened after getting married to a local girl – serves Donegal, Sligo, Roscommon, Galway and Leitrim.
“We’ve done a lot of schools projects in Donegal, Offaly, Kildare, Wicklow, Tipp, Dublin, etc. and have a few of those out for tender at the moment, so we’re kept busy.
“Most recently we were involved in a self-build new house for our Irish client who is building outside of Oxford in the UK which will be featured on Channels 4’s Kevin McCloud Grand Designs TV programme, probably next year so keep an eye out.”
In any line of work, when outstanding service is provided, more business will inevitably follow.
MCF Building Consultants Ltd,
Rahan Road,
Tullamore,
County Offaly.
Tel: 057 9341748
Main Street,
Mountcharles,
County Donegal.
Tel: 074 9735892
Mobile: 086 8646709
Email: [email protected]
Taken from Building Ireland Magazine, October 2018, Vol 4 No 9
