Features

The wind farm specialists

3 Jul , 2018  

Michael Doyle Civil Engineering Ltd has over 20 years solid experience specialising in site development work covering the whole of Ireland. Wind farms are a particular area of expertise as Building Ireland found out when speaking to the company’s QS Paul Gallagher.

A diverse and accommodating company, Michael Doyle Civil Engineering Ltd has successfully completed many major complex projects in the energy, telecommunications, windfarm, property and infrastructure sectors.

A family business, the company, under the supervision of Managing Director Michael Doyle, also has a strong management team of hardworking, experienced and specialist professionals that have earned the company an enviable reputation of reliability and quality.

Their approach of working with the project team to deliver both cost and programme savings has and will continue to give them the advantage of being the preferred contractor.

Over the past eight years, the team at Michael Doyle Civil Engineering Ltd has made an enviable name for themselves in the burgeoning wind farm construction sector.

They have developed a team with the aim of targeting the construction work associated to the development of wind farm projects and have completed several major projects to date.

The range of services they provide varies from contract to contract but includes the design and construction of site access roads, turbine foundations, crane hard standings, cable-trenching, cable-pulling and substation buildings.

Examples of their exemplary work can be found at 46MW Cloghboola Wind Farm and 36MW Glanaruddery Wind Farm which had a combined total of 27 Wind Turbines, while they are currently working on the Turnkey projects 10.2MW  Dromadda Beg  Wind Farm and 11.5MW Cloghaneleskirt Wind Farm both in North Kerry.

“The downturn was a big factor in our decision to diversify into wind farms,” explained QS Paul Gallagher who has been an ever-present with the progressive company since 2002.

“There were a lot of windfarms in our locality who were on the look-out for a local contractor who had plant at its disposal to cater for their construction needs. The services we provide have evolved considerably since then.

“We now specialise in the full design and build of wind farms, catering for both the civil and electrical balance of works and have delivered projects that have involved major turbine suppliers such as Enercon, Siemens and Vestas.

“All in all, since we’ve started, we’ve been involved in the construction of wind farms that provide over 300 MW of wind energy.”

Wind energy is currently the largest contributing resource of renewable energy in Ireland. It is both Ireland’s largest and cheapest renewable electricity resource.

In 2016, wind provided 85% of Ireland’s renewable electricity and 20.9% of total electricity demand. It is the second greatest source of electricity generation in the country after natural gas and Ireland is one of the leading countries in its use of wind energy, moving up to third place worldwide in 2015, after Denmark and Portugal.

As a consequence, Paul predicts further growth in the burgeoning sector.

“We’re continually expanding our wind farm team and we see 2018 as being another big year in the wind industry for Michael Doyle Civil Engineering. In fact, I’d imagine that the next couple of years fairly big in the wind industry for us. We’ve a number of projects at tender stage and the feedback we are getting is that there are a number of projects coming on stream this year.”

Michael Doyle Civil Engineering have considerable resources at their disposal. Their advanced plant, systems and procedures have ensured that the company is well placed to continue securing repeat business from satisfied and valued clients. “It’s very important that our plant is kept modern and that the best suited and most efficient equipment is utilisied on a project to deal with the challenging ground conditions that most wind farms bring.”

Health and Safety, meanwhile, has always been a priority for them and as a company they comply with all current and relevant legislation. Their commitment to a safe and healthy working environment for both their staff and members of the public is well recognised. “Each Wind Farm site is different as they are generally placed on land that has sloping terrain or deep peat and has little economic value for other industries. These sites come with their own challenges and Health & Safety has to be the number one concern on working on these projects. Every effort is made to ensure that the final design considers the all health and safety implications of carrying out the construction work.”

“The business has been steadily growing over the last four years or so,” replied Paul when asked about current market conditions. “Housing site development in Dublin forms another significant part of the company’s workload and we are currently working on approximately 650 residential units over a number of sites.”

What are the key attributes that Michael Doyle Civil Engineering prides itself on?

“Honesty is the big one, offering an honest price and getting the job done. Repeat business is huge for the company and a big emphasis is always placed on keeping the client happy so they’ll come back to us.”

Michael Doyle Civil Engineering Ltd

Cooladine

Enniscorthy

Co. Wexford

Tel: +353 53 9230323

Fax: +353 53 9230321

Email:  [email protected]

Website: www.mdce.ie

Taken from Building Ireland Magazine, March 2018, Vol 4 No 3