Client Newsroom

Watch out for the opening of Acheson & Glover’s new Outside Room area at Murdock’s Builders’ Merchant, Skeoge Industrial Estate, L’Derry in March and get some exciting ideas on how to transform your outside space, while also adding value to your home.

Selling Acheson & Glover’s complete range of high-end paving, walling and flags products, the new centre will have a brand new state-of-the-art display area to enable customers to come and view the products in-situ. If you need any advice or information, Acheson & Glover has also appointed a highly skilled on-site sales person, William Robinson, to help you make the right choice.

With a range of new products for 2012 in fresh new colour options (some in a stunning finish, unique to Acheson & Glover), the centre is one of five new partnerships with builders’ merchants in Newry, Ladas Drive, Belfast, Glengormley and Lisburn,  providing convenient locations throughout the whole of Northern Ireland to complement the company’s existing dedicated Outside Rooms Centres in Omagh, Fivemiletown, Dungannon, Toome and Bangor.

“The new openings mean that anyone in Northern Ireland should be able to travel to one of our Outside Rooms outlets in less than an hour,” said Acheson & Glover’s Outside Room Manager, Lauren Acheson.

“This expansion is testimony to our dedication to provide excellence in service and product quality and is backed up with the appointment of six new staff in the Outside Rooms team as well as three new external sales staff and a new sales manager to better service the needs of our growing customer base.

“It’s a very exciting time for us at Acheson & Glover and we hope it will prove so with our customers as well, opening up new opportunities for home improvements at a time when more and more people are ‘improving, not moving’.”

A construction-related family owned business from Mid Ulster has managed to defy national business performance trends by posting an increase in turnover for the past 12 months of 50%!

Bellaghy based Premier Electrics, which handles commercial electrical installations for a range of large retailers throughout the UK, Ireland and mainland Europe saw sales grow in 2011 from £18m-£27m.

Managing DIrector, Mark Scullion, who established the business in 1993, attributes the success to the firm’s growing reputation for delivering major contracts on time and within budget.

“Our teams have worked tirelessly throughout the year the length and breadth of the UK and Ireland as well as increasingly in countries including Germany, Spain and Belgium.  We are delighted to have developed strong relationships with our clients over the years and, in 2010-11 partnered several of them into new territories.”

As part of its commitment to being closer to its customers and as a reflection of its growing operating base, Premier this year opened an office in Munich, Germany and plans to open an additional office in London asa part of its planning for 2012.

“We had to radically change our business strategy with the onset of the economic downturn in the Republic of Ireland which, traditionally, had accounted for almost a quarter of our turnover.  This meant looking to new markets and expanding through the establishment of a dedicated maintenance division.”

Although understandably delighted with Premier’s success, Mr Scullion is far from complacent.  “The ethos of this business is all about hard, honest endeavour with a relentless commitment to quality, so there will be no resting on laurels.  We are already well into our planning for 2012 and 2013 and our goal is to consolidate this year’s sales’ levels and continue to grow our reputation in the marketplace.”

Premier currently provides direct and indirect employment for around 150 people and is an Irish market leader in commercial electrical installation and maintenance.

Its clients include Primark, Penneys, ASDA, John Lewis, Debenhams and M&S. Its turnover had a peak of £30m at the height of the economic boom in 2007.

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Warm congratulations to Pakflatt founder and MD, Patrick McGonagle who has been recognised in this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours list with an MBE for Services to Economic Development in Northern Ireland.

Pakflatt is a small business that has achieved truly global reach with its unique polling booth solution.  Patrick has been a long-standing SERIOUS client.

Well done Patrick.

A local family run company has been voted the best in Northern Ireland for its expertise in online marketing.

The multi-award winning Belmore Court Motel added to its ever increasing list of top gongs when it picked up the Best Overall Strategy prize in the first ever DANI Awards, organised by Digital Advertising Northern Ireland.

The local firm beat the most creative minds in digital online media to take the award at a plush black-tie event hosted by comedienne Nuala McKeever at the Hilton Hotel in Belfast last week.

Naomh McElhatton, founder of the DANI Awards said: “The Belmore Court Motel incorporated all the elements of a successful online strategy in their submission from SEO, PPC, social media and e-commerce.

“The judges were particularly impressed with their number 1 rating on Google for their key search words and coupled with a return on investment of £10 for every £1 spent this makes the Belmore Court Motel the overall winner in the online strategy category.”

With an HND in Computing, Belmore Court Motel owner Terry McCartney recognised the benefits of promoting his business online long before many other leading firms had latched onto the importance of the internet.

A thrilled Mr McCartney said:”We are over the moon. It is something in which we have had a genuine interest for a number of years and something we caught onto fairly quickly.

“The big benefit to our sales and the time and effort we put into it shows what we are doing must be right and not only are we getting lots of business out of it but our industry peers have recognised it.”

The DANI Awards brought together clients and agencies from across the province to single out excellence within the digital industry from best app, social media, viral media, online strategy and web design.

Invest Northern Ireland, Business First, Blueprint Appointments, University of Ulster and Chain Reaction Cycles supported the inaugural awards.

Founder of The DANI Awards Naomh McElhatton said: “The digital industry in Northern Ireland is growing at a rapid rate and it’s about time that those working in the industry are recognised for their work.”

Belmore was also recognised as among the top three in two other categories Best app and Best Viral Campaign.

The motel beat Alzheimer’s Research UK (Being) and CIM Excellence Awards (Stakeholder) to pick up the Best Online Strategy Award.

Landscape Centre wins FIVE prizes at Association of Landscape Contractors of Ireland annual awards

A Northern Ireland company, which employs around 200 people across its design, contracting and maintenance teams is celebrating after landing five major prizes at a prestigious all-Ireland awards’ ceremony.

The Landscape Centre at Ballyclare added to its already lengthy list of accolades with three firsts and two runner up prizes at the Association of Landscape Contractors of Ireland annual gala awards’ ceremony held in Mullingar.

The County Antrim firm, which is one of the island’s largest landscape contractors, beat off competition from rival firms across Ireland to pick up the awards for best Private Garden £10,000 to £30,000, Best Commercial or Public Authority over £50,000 and Commercial or Public Authority Maintenance.

It also picked up an Award of Merit in the Private Gardens Under £10,000 and the Commercial and Public Authority Under £50,000 categories.

The awards, which aim to give industry standard recognition to firms, are judged by a team of independent landscaping experts.

Landscape Centre Managing Director Steven Thompson said: “We are both pleased and proud that our dedication to quality has once again been recognised at a major industry event such as this.

“To have five of our schemes singled out for awards has been a real honour and only serves to strengthen our resolve to continue to provide the most creative design and professional build service to our growing list of clients in both the private and commercial sectors.”

Included in the award-winning entries was a community garden designed for the Housing Executive in Dungiven as well as a new sensory garden sponsored by The Landscape Centre for Millquarter Primary School in Antrim.

The Landscape Centre, which is no longer connected to the firm of the same name at Donegore, are leading specialists in landscape design and build in both the private and commercial sectors, Last year the company further consolidated its place as an all-island market leader with the acquisition of Portadown based Bryan Hynds’ Services to further grow its maintenance offering.

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Cleaver Fulton Rankin, one of Northern Ireland’s leading corporate and commercial law firms, has been given the highest possible ranking for eight of its practice areas in the latest edition of the prestigious legal directory, Chambers UK.

Nine individuals at the firm in Bedford Street, Belfast, were also ranked by Chambers in the leading band.

Chambers has been publishing authoritative directories of the legal profession across the world for the last 20 years. The guides, which are published annually, are the result of rigorous and ongoing research – including interviews with thousands of lawyers across the world each year – and their contents are widely trusted for their objective assessment of firms’ legal expertise.

Cleaver Fulton Rankin, which was established in 1893, has a staff of around 80 and is focused primarily on company and commercial law, corporate finance, litigation, property law and private client services.

Within Northern Ireland, the firm is particularly well-known for its expertise in construction law, intellectual property, employment, banking, planning and environmental law, corporate recovery, dispute resolution, IT and charity law.

All 18 practice areas submitted by Cleaver Fulton Rankin for this year’s Chambers listing were ranked. The eight top ranked disciplines in Northern Ireland were administrative and public law, charities, construction, education, environment, family and matrimonial, planning and private client services.

A further eight areas were ranked in the second level band and the remaining two were placed in the third.

The firm’s offering in the area of real estate law was also ‘recommended’ by Chambers for the high level of client service provided.

Scott Kennedy, marketing partner with Cleaver Fulton Rankin, points out that practices are ranked by Chambers according to feedback from clients and professional peers. As a result, he says, the exemplary results recently achieved by Cleaver Fulton Rankin are confirmation of its industry-leading expertise and evidence of its relentless attention to detail:

“Each of our partners has achieved rankings in this prestigious directory and eight practice areas have been top ranked.  This is an excellent result which highlights the strength, depth and ongoing development of Cleaver Fulton Rankin as a leading law firm in Northern Ireland.

“Our technical expertise coupled with a continued investment in client relationships and a strong commercial awareness is clearly valued by the marketplace.  We are therefore delighted with the rankings.”

ENDS

A local motel is celebrating after topping a magnificent year of major awards success by reaching the final in three categories in the prestigious Digital Advertising Northern Ireland annual awards.

The multi award-winning four star Belmore Court and Motel in Enniskillen was told last week that all three of its entries has been shortlisted in the annual DANI Awards which are coveted by the biggest companies in the province.

The company, which has seen a marked increase in online bookings in the past year, is up for Belfast Viral Campaign, Best App and Best Online Strategy.

And Belmore has decided to mark its success by announcing a major winter sale, slashing prices on its superior and executive rooms for 500 nights to just £39 per room per night with continental breakfast.

The Motel has enjoyed a superb year of success at major awards ceremonies where it has been recognised consistently for its attention to quality service.

Earlier this year Belmore enjoyed the distinction of being the only independent business in Ireland to pick up a Silver Award in the Green Tourism Business Scheme.

The motel also left its larger competitors standing when it was awarded House Keeping Team of the Year and runner up in the Receptionist of the Year categories in the 2011 Northern Ireland Hotel Federation annual awards.

And next month, Sales and Marketing Manager Nina Kelly Kleine will be one of the finalists in the coveted Chartered Institute of Marketing Ireland Excellence awards.

Belmore owner Terry McCartney said: “As a small business up against much bigger companies, we are delighted to be singled out for success.

“Having all three of our entries shortlisted in DANI has topped what has been a very successful year for us.

“Our winter sale is our way of saying thank you to our customers and celebrating such a rewarding year which has helped us on our goal to becoming the best independent guest accommodation provider in Northern Ireland.

“It is difficult times and the increase in staycations has worked very well for us and we want to show that Enniskillen is an all year round venue with lots of good local independent shops as well as leading High Street stores and a wide range of excellent award winning restaurants.”

The £39 per superior or executive room per night offer applies to a minimum stay of two nights except for Sundays and runs from the beginning of November until March. Book online at www.motel.co.uk or call and speak to one of the friendly staff on 028 66302 6633.

Leading construction firm, PATTON has won a top award at the Sustainable Ireland Awards 2011 for its work on the new Belfast Metropolitan College in the Belfast’s Titanic Quarter.

The company was presented with the ‘Environmental Project of the Year’ award, sponsored by Highlander International Recycling, at a glittering ceremony at the Ramada Hotel in Belfast where the keynote speaker was Environment Minister Alex Attwood.

The VIP gathering was told that this was the category that attracted the most entries, and that Patton’s was chosen not only for its high level of ‘green’ credentials, but for managing to divert 99% of the waste produced during the project from landfill, while recycling 100% of the available hard core on site and totally eradicating ground contamination.

This has resulted in clear environmental benefits, which have been extended to the building itself, which is now on course to achieve one of the top BREEAM ratings.

For example, the heating, lighting and ventilation systems to active teaching spaces and associated accommodation have been designed to be individually zoned for out of hours use. The building management system (BMS) provides a breakdown of the energy use by each zoned area whilst efficiency optimising the building’s energy consumption.

A rainwater harvesting system combined with waterless urinals and leak detection systems have been incorporated as cost effective conservational measures to minimise waste of water in non-portable applications.

The Belfast Metropolitan College building will have capacity for 2,500 full-time students and over 300 full time and part time staff. It will feature the latest facilities to support a wide range of courses including A’ Levels and GCSEs; Hospitality and Catering Business and Management; Professional training and Counselling; and ICT.

This was the sixth year of the Energy, Environmental & Waste Management awards, organised by the Hillsborough based publishers of Sustainable Ireland magazine, 4SquareMedia, to celebrate the contribution industry makes to the environment and to sustainability.

There were 13 categories, ranging from Best Energy Manager and Best Waste Carrier to Biodiversity Project of the Year and Best Use of Renewable Energy Sources.

Minister Attwood told the event: “The implementation of our Waste Strategy has led to great strides in recycling waste. Our 2006 target for recycling domestic waste was 35% but in fact we’ve achieved nearly 36% in 2009/10.

“This is quite an achievement, given we were at only 10% in 2002. This is down to everyone playing their part whether it’s Government, Local Government, the business sector or the individual citizen.

“But we can do much more. I want Northern Ireland to be recycling 60% of its waste by 2020. Ambitious? Yes, but doable in my opinion and a challenge for all of us here today.”

When it came to supplying quality paving at a busy County Down shopping centre, paving expert Acheson & Glover was the supplier of choice for contractor F P McCann.

Acheson & Glover’s Plaza paving was chosen over other options to rejuvenate the exterior of Marks & Spencer’s Sprucefield Shopping Centre when the original flagging needed refreshed.

First impressions count, and shoppers at the Sprucefield centre have been impressed by the fresh new paving, which greets them as they arrive at the store.

“The new Plaza paving supplied by Acheson & Glover is of the highest quality, which is needed for our busy shopping centre,” said Denise Greenan, Assistant Centre Manager at Marks and Spencer, Sprucefield.

“There was minimal disruption to shoppers and the work was quick and very well managed.  Our piazza area looks very impressive with clean-cut lines and a top quality finish.”

Contractor F P McCann already enjoys an excellent working relationship with the Fivemiletown-based concrete manufacturing company and was delighted to partner Acheson & Glover in this latest retail project.

Acheson & Glover presented Marks & Spencer with three design options and by working through them together, a final design was agreed which best met all the job requirements.

Plaza has the high quality look to complement the surroundings. Manufactured using specially selected granite aggregate, its premium, natural form has excellent slip resistance and is also suitable for driving on. To add to the finished look, Acheson & Glover supplied silver grouting sand.

The product comes in modular sizes to create different patterning effects which adds to the finished look.

At Marks and Spencer’s in Sprucefield, the 1600m2 area was laid in a mixture of Plaza Silver 300x150x60mm and Plaza Slate 150x150x60mm for a stylish, practical solution to meet the paving needs of a busy shopping centre.

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A groundbreaking Belfast building has won a top global architectural prize.

The Boat, designed by TODD architects in Belfast, won the 2011 Mixed Use Building of the Year in this year’s LEAF awards.

LEAF is the forum of Leading European Architects and its members include many of the world’s top architects, including Foster & Partners, Zaha Hadid, Henning Larsens, and Richard Rogers.

The annual awards are sponsored by Emirates Glass and are intended to promote and recognise superb architecture across the globe. This year’s shortlists included some of the world’s most outstanding buildings and designs, selected from a large number of entries from Europe, Russia, Japan, Korea, India, the Middle East and North and South America.

Among this year’s category winners were schemes by the American Stephen Holl, widely regarded as one of the world’s finest architects, and Brazilian architect Marcio Kogan, designer of some of the most innovative and exciting residential properties across the globe.

The 14-storey Boat sits on the newly revived Customs’ House Square with spectacular views over the river Lagan, Belfast Lough and beyond. The tower incorporates luxury apartments above offices with a restaurant and bar space at ground and first floor level.

The judges highlighted the glazed facades, the bespoke aluminium and picture frames and the hardwood shading. They commented that the innovative live/work/leisure building was almost certainly the first of its kind in Belfast and described it as a ‘contemporary landmark building sitting on the edge of the river Lagan, providing a gateway to the city and contributing to its revival’.

The Boat has already featured in a host of television programs including House of the Year and Panorama as producers have sought to take advantage of the stunning views from all of its apartment and office floors.

Paul Crowe, senior partner in Todd’s was presented with the award and the reception from the 300 plus guests made it very clear that they were delighted The Boat design had won this prestigious category.

According to Paul Crowe this award, which is the first of its kind won by a Northern Ireland architectural practice, enhances Belfast’s growing reputation as a city of talented professionals, capable of competing with the very best on a global scale, and as an attractive location for international companies seeking a place to do business.

Judges for the awards who were looking for ‘strategic excellence, marketplace impact and above all innovation’, comprised a number of key individuals drawn from various areas of the international architectural design and construction community.

The LEAF Awards are open worldwide to all those who have made an ‘outstanding contribution to the world of architectural and design build’ and recognise those that have not only had exceptional success but also shown leadership within their respective fields.

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