Maccaferri Ltd, the geotechnical and civil engineering specialist, has established a base in Ireland by opening new offices in the Plato Business Park in Damastown, Dublin.
The company is a subsidiary of the worldwide Maccaferri Industrial Group, which has its headquarters in Bologna, Italy and manufacturing facilities in over 20 countries worldwide.
Traditionally known for the production of wire mesh gabions – used for erosion protection and slope reinforcement in rail, road and waterway applications – Maccaferri has expanded significantly over recent years and now operates over a wide range of geotechnical and civil engineering disciplines.
Maccaferri currently has offices in Oxford in the UK, Perth in Scotland, Belfast and now Dublin. According to business development manager, Craig Stoker, Maccaferri sees expansion into the Republic of Ireland as an important strategic step in the growth of the company. Commenting on the move he said, “The strength of the Republic’s construction industry and the growth it has seen over the last few years means that a base here is essential. Through our Belfast office, we already have a strong presence on the island of Ireland but a permanent presence in the capital city is a reflection of the importance we place on the market here.”
As well as being an important supplier of materials to the construction industry, Maccaferri also provides civil engineering and geotechnical design services. Their expertise in soil bioengineering and vegetation techniques has been in high demand for projects where environmental enhancement is required.
The company also works closely with local manufacturing partners to develop innovative engineering products with impressive green credentials. Acheson and Glover Group, based in County Tyrone, manufactures the Anchor Wall System range of segmental retaining wall products. Maccaferri is their engineering partner, promoting the range throughout Ireland and the UK mainland.
The Anchor Wall System uses factory-made masonry units, in combination with site-won backfill materials, to create engineered earth-retaining structures for commercial, industrial and house-building projects. The use of site-won backfill minimises the need for imported materials, reducing the number of environmentally damaging lorry journeys to an absolute minimum.
Anchor’s landmark system was used in a large housing redevelopment project in Galway to create an 11m wall around three sides of a landfill site. The wall, thought to be the highest of its type in Western Europe, created three 4m high terraces and allowed the developer to use the maximum area of land for housing.
Other local projects that have benefited from Maccaferri’s input include the impressive sculptural screen wall built beside the Dublin to Dundalk section of the M1 motorway at Balgeen, Drogheda.
Here, the motorway toll plaza is built within an environmentally sensitive area and Atkins, the architects, specified Maccaferri gabion baskets, filled with locally quarried limestone, to create dramatic freestanding screening walls, 500m in length and 10m high in places.
