Not only is Northern Ireland-based NUGENT marking its 60th anniversary this year, but the mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineering specialist has even more cause for celebration after being named Large Contractor of the Year at the Northern Ireland Electrical Awards 2023. Construction Industry News recently caught up with Breige Hollywood, Marketing Manager, to see what these achievements mean to the company.
“We were absolutely delighted to win this latest award and it’s a real testament to the hard work of everyone within the business,” explains Breige. “Our success wouldn’t be possible without our people, so it’s great that they’ve been recognised in this way.”
NUGENT was also shortlisted in two other categories at the NI Electrical Awards: Apprentice of the Year and Commercial Project of the Year, with the company being nominated for its work on a development at Queen’s University Belfast, where it carried out all the mechanical and elements of the One Elmwood Student Centre.
No stranger to award success, last year NUGENT was also named Contractor of the Year at the 2022 Northern Ireland Plumbing & Heating Awards, as well as winning Commercial Project of the Year, again for the Queen’s University Belfast project.
The ever-growing award collection underlines the consistency that NUGENT has demonstrated since its creation in 1963, when it was founded by Michael Nugent, who is still very much involved in the second-generation family business.
With its head office in Pomeroy, County Tyrone, and offices in Belfast and Dublin, NUGENT currently has 120 employees across the business, supplemented by over 300 trusted sub-contractors. This enables the business to carry out large complex MEP engineering for projects across Northern Ireland, Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland. Thanks to the strength of its people and infrastructure, it can deliver leading-edge construction solutions across a range of key sectors, such as commercial, education, healthcare, heritage, hospitality & leisure, life sciences and residential, through its major projects, facilities management and specialist projects divisions.
While it has been built on strong traditional values, key to NUGENT’s longevity has been its ability to continually move with the times. This was particularly evident last year when the company underwent a major rebrand.
“We have a proud past that has helped us to get where we are now, but we’re also always looking to the future too,” explains Breige. “Last September we underwent a significant rebrand, which involved rebranding the company name from Michael Nugent Ltd to NUGENT. As a result, we updated all the merchandising, company fleet, uniforms, emails, signage and website.”
While its name may have changed, it’s clear that the values and emphasis on service that has served the business so well over the years has not altered, hence its latest award win. A major element of NUGENT’s enduring success has been its emphasis on staff development and its willingness to bring youngsters through, thereby ensuring it has the people it needs to deliver its goals many years down the line.
“We are passionate about students joining our team to begin their career journey with us,” says Breige. “We have multiple mechanical and electrical apprentices onboard, as well as MEP Technical Assistant placement students from college, work placement students and recent graduates.
“We also have ongoing training for our more senior members of staff to ensure that they’re continually developing their skills in order to progress their careers with us. This is particularly crucial in the current climate, as there is a severe shortage of skills available within the wider marketplace, which means it’s even more important that we retain our people and develop them to their full potential. We are always striving to improve our knowledge through continuous training, both in-house and outsourced. Our Digital Construction Team Lead, Camila, was recently in London for Digital Construction Week.
“We’re also very strong on health and safety training, as the well-being of our employees is our number one priority. We even have a well-being committee to address any issues our staff might have, and we organise regular social and charity fundraising events. For instance, members of our staff recently completed the Belfast Marathon, helping to raise £5,500 for Air Ambulance NI in the process.”
A highly trained workforce has enabled NUGENT to operate in a wide variety of different sectors. In terms of significant projects the company has been involved in, it has recently completed works at The Store, a boutique hotel in Oxford; Marigold house, a care home in Leighton Buzzard; Brighton College, Rainham Leisure Centre, two contracts for Northern Regional College in Coleraine and Ballymena, Belfast Harbour Studios, Kodak House in London and Emmanuel College in Cambridge.
“We’re currently very busy in all areas of the company, not only in M&E but also in Design & Build,” says Breige. “In addition, we have offsite manufacturing capabilities here in Pomeroy that is proving very popular. Supplementing our project work, we can also offer facilities management services that include ongoing preventative maintenance works and reactive works.”
With a strong order book in place thanks to the broad range of services it can provide, the long-term prospects for NUGENT across Northern Ireland, Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland look positive. It is therefore well placed to not only chalk up many more years of operation, but potentially add more awards to its collection too. In the meantime, however, it’s only right that the company takes the opportunity to reflect on just how far it has come in the past 60 years and to celebrate with the staff who have played such a vital role in its journey.