Despite having only been formed in 2013, Sonica Fitout has been quick to make its mark with its fresh approach and emphasis on quality proving to be an award-winning formula. This was underlined at the Irish Fit Out Awards 2015 after the Dublin-based company carried away the Tourism & Leisure Project of the Year Award for its ground-breaking work on the development of the 3Arena.
“I set up the company by putting together some of the best people I’ve ever worked with in the interiors industry,” explains Donnacha Neary, Managing Director. “We’re all about giving our staff the opportunity to demonstrate their skills and achieve their potential in their areas of expertise, whether it’s site management, surveying, design or programme management. We’ve looked to create an environment where dedication and hard work is rewarded and where new ideas and fresh thinking are every bit as valued as the core business of project delivery. The people I have around me inspire me to be a better Director and a better team player every day, so it’s vital that their good work is both recognised and praised.”
Operating exclusively within the Irish commercial fit-out sector, Sonica has successfully completed a diversity of projects ranging from Corporate offices, tourist attractions, car showrooms and gymnasiums through to bars and restaurants. It predominately looks to tackle anything that can showcase its abilities at the high-end of the interiors sector and the award-winning 3Arena development provided the perfect opportunity to flex its design muscles.
“We’re all about giving our staff the opportunity to demonstrate their skills and achieve their potential in their areas of expertise, whether it’s site management, surveying, design or programme management. We’ve looked to create an environment where dedication and hard work is rewarded and where new ideas and fresh thinking are every bit as valued as the core business of project delivery.”
Donnacha Neary, Managing Director
“The architects EML came to us as 3 were taking over the 02 Arena and wanted to make a major statement of intent,” adds Mr Neary. “As they were taking over the number one concert venue in the Country, they were determined to make the market-leading facility even better. With the assistance of London-based Bompas & Parr on the concept design, we put together a forward-thinking scheme. The challenge then was for us to take an idea that was very much conceptual and had never been seen or done before and make it tangible and real in a very short period of time.
“To really concentrate the mind, we up against a strict timeframe as Lady Ga Ga was in the middle of her Monster Ball tour so we were under strict instructions to have the project finished and the venue ready for the show. We accepted what this entailed, met it head on, and in the end actually handed over two days early, which we were delighted about.
“What made things all the more challenging was that nothing on the project was standard, it was all bespoke. We’re talking about 10m-wide projections that were commissioned by filming oil inside of barrels for unique wall and ceiling kaleidoscopes, handmade upside-down cities with over 2,000 individual LED lights that pulsate with the rhythm of the music and colour coded LED ticker tapes that take live Tweets from customers and scroll them in real-time into the venue. It was truly groundbreaking innovation.”
This level of originality obviously resonated with the Fitout Award judges, hence the Tourism & Leisure Project of the Year accolade, and Sonica is now looking to capitalise on the success, both externally and internally. “It allows us to self-promote from a vanity perspective, but more substantially its validation of our methods,” says Mr Neary. “It’s also recognition of the effort that every single member of our team has put in to make us as successful as we are.
“It’s important to remember that we won the award in a sector that is ultra-competitive and populated by companies that have 10, 20 or even 30-plus years’ experience operating within the industry. To come almost out of nowhere in just two years and win an award like this is a true statement of our professional legitimacy and really underlines who we are and what we’re about.
“We set up Sonica to be the best in class and bring something to the industry that wasn’t available previously. With this in mind, we developed the business specifically to go toe-to-toe with the established competitors in the marketplace and offer prospective Clients an option for something fresh and uncomplicated.”
Whilst every company worth its salt should be striving to be amongst the best in its field, only a select few make the grade. So what has been the key for Sonica?
“It’s going to sound clichéd, but it was all down to the Team of individuals that we have around us. It’s what continues to differentiate us from our competitors and what they’re doing. All our employees know that we’re in this together and we operate very much as a single entity going in a well defined and well considered direction. We’re young, we’re fresh and we have an abundance of enthusiasm to be the best we can possibly be. At the same time, we have fun and don’t take each other too seriously inside of the office. Clients embrace that. We’re not tied to anyone or anything so there’s no legacy issues. Ultimately we’re all about getting the job done and that’s been integral to our success.
“We’re widely recognised as the fastest growing fit-out company operating in the market and our workforce has tripled in the last 12 months. Order book-wise our revenue has increased by 800 per cent in 24 months so we’re completely outside of ‘the standard’.”
With a relocation to new Headquarters on a ten-year lease having just taken place, Sonica’s repeat business pool is continuing to grow and is increasingly being made up of household brands such as 3, Nissan, Glaxo, IBM, Maxol, HubSpot, Ticketmaster, Guinness and Siemens, to name but a few notable names. This is a portfolio that speaks for itself and moving forward the Company is keen that its workload continues to grow without compromising the quality of work it delivers, something that can only be achieved via strong recruitment.
“It can be tough expanding your team, especially when you operate to the exacting standards that we adhere to, and we have very strict criteria that have to be met. We spent a lot of time identifying the calibre of people that that we needed to make us what we are but we recognised that it would be completely self-destructive to put people into roles that they’re going to struggle with just for the sake of increasing our numbers. It’s a very fast-paced environment that we’re working in and it’s a rapidly evolving and unforgiving industry. It’s therefore imperative that the people we bring in are more than capable of doing the job and enhance the team that we already have, whilst also adding to the group dynamic. Thankfully the people that we’ve brought in so far have absolutely thrived in our working environment, slotting seamlessly into the team. This is testament to our surveying and operations teams, as they’ve played an active role in selecting our newest recruits. It took a while to get to that point but it has certainly come to fruition now.”
“We’re widely recognised as the fastest growing fit-out company operating in the market and our workforce has tripled in the last 12 months. Order book-wise our revenue has increased by 800 per cent in 24 months so we’re completely outside of ‘the standard’.”
Donnacha Neary, Managing Director
Even in light of Sonica’s meteoric rise, Mr Neary is under no illusion that more work needs to be done and that potholes on the road ahead could potentially disrupt its progress. “Challenge-wise we know what’s coming down the track so we’ve prepared by putting a plan in place. We’ve chosen the path that we want to take and we’re ready for the challenges as they come at us. We know that there will be hurdles along the way but all the same it’s a very exciting time for us and we’re hugely enthusiastic about our prospects for further growth.
“We’re not scared of anything and there’s absolutely no project around that we shouldn’t be involved in as there’s nothing that would ever preclude us from doing the work. We have the team, we have the ability, the capability and the experience to build on our initial success and our early award win. We’re actually looking forward to the challenges that will be coming our way, both in the short term and the longer term.
“For 2016, on the back of the office move, we’re concentrating on solidifying our position and maintaining the fabulous momentum that we’ve built up so far. We have shown that we can more than hold our own in the market and whilst we might not quite be there yet in terms of size, we’re confident that we’ll get there in the next few years with the team we’ve put together. This is very much our intention.”
Given what Sonica has achieved already, it would be a brave man that doubts Mr Neary’s words.