branching out Opposite: The Scoop at MORE London, landscaped in Carlow limestone by Stone Developments

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1 branching out STONE DEVELOPMENTS Stone Developments emerged out of Sisk s original contracting business, with John Sisk & Son buying stone quarries to ensure a steady supply of good stone for its buildings. Before mass transportation, sourcing materials close to a site made sense because delivering materials over long distances was difficult. So on each of its construction projects John Sisk & Son sourced stone locally but in the case of Castlerea Mental Hospital (now a prison), which the company worked on in 1937, this proved difficult. As a result John Sisk & Son sought out supplies further afield which resulted in the company buying a limestone quarry in Ballinasloe. During its work on Cavan Cathedral in the late 1930s and early 1940s, Sisk sourced granite from four Dublin and Wicklow quarries, and decided to buy the Ballybrew quarry in Then, in 1963, Sisk bought the James Walsh & Sons Old Leighlin Carlow quarry to supply limestone for its monuments business as well as its building work. Ten years later, in 1973, the three quarries were brought together under the umbrella of Stone Developments Ltd which supplied limestone and granite to the monuments and building trade. During the 1980s recession, the company explored markets overseas and a contracting office was set up in London in the early 1980s, to supply and fit both irish and internationally sourced stone on large building projects. That contracting business relocated to ireland 10 years later, but Stone Developments continued to supply irish limestone to various projects in Britain, including the Mayor of London s offices. Opposite: The Scoop at MORE London, landscaped in Carlow limestone by Stone Developments

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3 142 BUilDiNG a BUSiNESS in parallel with the development of the Uk market, Stone Developments entered the Benelux region, where it had identified a market for a Belgian blue limestone known as Petit Granit that was almost identical to irish limestone from the company s Carlow quarry. During the recent economic boom, the rise in finished granite monuments coming from countries with cheaper manufacturing in the early 1990s had led to the demise of the large scale manufacture of granite monuments in ireland and the quarry and factory in Ballinasloe was closed in Top left: At work on the restoration of St Patrick s Cathedral, Dublin Top right: Painting by John G Sisk of the limestone quarry at Carlow Opposite: Blue limestone quarry at Old Leighlin, Co Carlow in the later 1990s the demand for imported stone on building projects and pressure on granite prices led to the closure of the manufacturing operation at Ballybrew in 2005, while the design and contract management side moved to Bray. Meanwhile, the limestone exports to Belgium were flourishing and when a key agent decided, in 2002, to sell his distribution business in Belgium and a limestone quarry he owned in kilkenny, Stone Developments bought them. Today Stone Developments has two vibrant businesses a limestone side that supplies both processed and semi processed material to irish and international markets and a contracting company that supplies and fits irish and internationally sourced materials to large building projects, including those built by Sisk, such as the Whitewater shopping centre in Newbridge, Co kildare.

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6 BraNchiNG out 145 Opposite: Restoration of St Patrick s Cathedral, Dublin Right: A mirror-image extension of an existing block at Dromoland Castle, Newmarket-on-Fergus, Co Clare. Constructed using Carlow limestone Below: Office and quarry staff at Old Leighlin Quarry, Co Carlow

7 146 BUilDiNG a BUSiNESS conservation and Restoration Stone Developments took over the running of the Conservation and Restoration business from a sister Sisk company, international Contract Cleaners, in it then developed the scope of the business from simply facade restoration to include other associated trades such as roofing, leading, steelwork, plastering etc. The first major job it undertook was the facade restoration of Dublin City Hall. Over the past decade it has completed work on numerous occasions at St Patrick s Cathedral, Dublin. This work involved restoration of the spire, the roof, leadwork and also steelwork for the restoration and realignment of the bells. Among other contracts Conservation and Restoration has completed is the Browne Clayton Memorial, a 94-foot Corinthian column in Wexford. The unique granite column was originally built to honour a popular local man who was an officer in the British army and was killed in battle in Egypt. it was struck by lightning a number of years ago, and the missing and damaged decorative stone was replaced in the column and a lightning conductor installed. The restoration team has also worked on the Church of the Assumption in Callan, Co kilkenny, where it was found that the support structures beneath the spire were unstable. The job involved taking down the spire, stone by stone, marking each one, providing a new underpinning and building the spire back up again stone by stone. in addition they detailed and manufactured replacements for stones that had been damaged over time, and plastered the portico walls. Demand for their skills is on the increase as more and more irish people and businesses understand and appreciate the importance of protecting and preserving our built heritage. The recently rebuilt Browne Clayton Memorial in Wexford (right) and the 94 foot Corinthian column as it was before restoration (left). Photographs: Donal Murphy photography

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9 148 BUilDiNG a BUSiNESS Left: Glass roof lights Right: kildare County Council buildings showing clearly the elaborately glazed facade WILLIAAM COX When the irish distributor of Coxdome rooflights went out of business in the 1960s, kevin Callan, the then commercial director of Sisk, approached its parent company Williaam Cox of England and negotiated a 50 per cent share of the business, taking Sisk into glass and cladding. After a number of further buyouts, SiSk Group currently shares ownership of the company with CRH (Cement Roadstone Holdings). The company began by importing rooflights and selling them through builders providers. Such was the demand, though, that an irish production facility was established in Monastery Road, Clondalkin, and the company later expanded into the Robinhood industrial Estate in Clondalkin, in Williaam Cox briefly went into the acrylic bath market before establishing itself as a windows company in ireland, installing doors, windows and screens countrywide. it then expanded in 1991 by teaming up with branded glazing and cladding systems

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12 BraNchiNG out 151 Opposite: Cork County Hall. Refurbished in 2006 with a twin-skinned facade Left: Charlestown shopping centre, Dublin Below: Jury s Hotel, Cork Bottom: Trespa cladding at the Griffeen Centre, Lucan, Co Dublin

13 152 BUilDiNG a BUSiNESS companies to become a key player in that market by providing engineered natural daylight and ventilation solutions to buildings. The company is now based in the Cloverhill industrial Estate in Dublin and has premises in Cork and Belfast. Williaam Cox is supplying and fitting all the cladding and glazing at the Aviva Stadium, Lansdowne Road, Dublin Williaam Cox s glazing and ventilation systems can be found in many prominent buildings, such as Beacon Court, Sandyford; Cork County Hall; Croke Park Stadium; Elm Park, Dublin; kildare County Offices, Naas; Red Mall Blanchardstown Centre; the Pavilions shopping centre, Swords; the Whitewater shopping centre, Newbridge and on the sweeping polycarbonate roof of the new Sisk-built stadium at Lansdowne Road. A question often asked is how the company got the extra a in its name. Founder William Cox, from the East End of London, was struggling financially when he went to a fortune teller in the Far East who said that he would get rich by changing his name. That extra a apparently made all the difference for his business boomed from then on.

14 BraNchiNG out 153 KORINE Sisk has been involved in buying and developing property for 67 years, and under the leadership of John O. Sisk, it built, and owned, several shopping centres including the Swan Centre in Rathmines, and Ballymun (both in Dublin), Shannon and Waterford City Square. To simplify the structure, Sisk Properties was closed, and its portfolio sold off at the beginning of this century, and korine came into existence. Above: Retail units in Oxford Street, London (left) and commercial offices in Reading Uk (right) as seen before (bottom) and after (top) redevelopment korine now concentrates on the Uk. it buys properties or sites, develops them, holds them for a while (and lets them out) and then sells them often as a portfolio, says managing director Ciaran McDonald. One of korine s first projects was Silverstone House in Sandyford, which the company sold in korine also developed warehouses beside the SiSk Group s offices on the Naas Road, Dublin.

15 154 BUilDiNG a BUSiNESS ORIGO Origo started in 1954 (as LMC Company) with the importation and distribution of heavy construction equipment. its origins stem from a year earlier, when at a trade fair in Germany John G Sisk, always the innovator, bought Bosch power tools for his company. A short time later he was offered the distributorship contract for ireland and the business grew from there. Left: Stihl chainsaw at work Above: One of the many power tools Bosch supplies into the irish market through Origo Opposite: Bosch s latest range of kitchen appliances in distinctive black in the early 1970s the company added more products from the Bosch range: Bosch domestic appliances, Bosch automotive products and the Bosch-owned Blaupunkt in-car entertainment systems. The Bosch-Origo relationship has survived to our mutual benefit and for Bosch, it is unique in Europe, says John O. Sisk who chaired Origo for some 30 years. in the 1990s the company added power tool brands such as Skil and Dremel and the garden equipment company Qualcast. in 1999 Origo expanded again by acquiring the distribution rights for Stihl garden equipment (including chainsaws and concrete-cutting saws) and Viking garden machinery, which supplies a large range of garden machinery and ride-on tractor-mowers.

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17 156 BUilDiNG a BUSiNESS in 2003 Origo moved into a modern distribution facility at Magna Business Park in Citywest, Dublin (built by Sisk). This move enabled further growth, both from within the existing portfolio and from acquisitions. Above left: Viking Tractor Mower Above: Bosch Auto Diagnostic equipment By 2005 Origo was a key supplier to kitchen, construction, garden and automotive industries. As well as expanding its distribution base over the years, the company has also undergone name changes. in 1960 it switched from LMC Company to Beaver Distribution, which came from the name of its first offices, in Beaver Row, Donnybrook. in 2006, it was decided the name needed updating, and an in-house team undertook the task. When the word Origo was mooted it was universally accepted: it is the Latin word for source which tied in nicely with the company strategy.

18 BraNchiNG out 157 HEALTH CARE in 2005 the family and board of SiSk Group made a strategic decision to further diversify the group. The irish economy was booming and construction levels were at an historic high, so the decision to seek opportunities in other sectors and broaden the group s base was a brave one by the family. SiSk Group entered the healthcare market and over the next two years it acquired five companies comprising more than 200 employees and a combined annual turnover approaching 100 million. All of the healthcare companies within SiSk Group come under the Sisk Healthcare umbrella. When Sisk entered the healthcare market it chose to concentrate on distribution because it had more than 50 years experience in that sector through Origo, and it understands the distribution business. Health was identified as a growth sector in light of demographic trends indicating that numbers in the 30 to 39 age group look set to grow by 20 per cent by 2010, while numbers in the 18 to 25 age group are expected to drop by 17 per cent, and ireland s ageing population will need good healthcare. Top right: Leibinger Maxilliofacial Plating System (Tekno Surgical) Bottom right: StarClose femoral closure device (Synapse Medical) A key element of the SiSk Group s successful entry to the healthcare sector was its attraction to these companies as a family business. Each of these businesses in their own right was founder owned and managed, but ultimately a family business. Their cultures and approaches to business were similar to those of Sisk.

19 158 BUilDiNG a BUSiNESS Sisk Healthcare products 1. iridex opthalmic lasers (M.E.D. Surgical) 2. Xience drug eluting stent (Synapse Medical) 3. Sorin icd (Cardiac Services) 4. Stryker i-suite (Tekno Surgical) 5. kimberly-clark drapes, gowns and masks (M.E.D. Surgical). Opposite: Philips Ultrasound in critical care setting (Cardiac Services)

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21 160 BUilDiNG a BUSiNESS in March 2006 Sisk acquired Howth-based M.E.D. Surgical, which was established in 1993, and supplies and distributes surgical products to irish hospitals. The company, which has 22 employees, distributes operating theatre products and supplies, made by leading multinational medical device companies. Started in 1993 by Denis McFerran, Colin Dolan and Vincent Prone, M.E.D. Surgical s annual sales have grown from 287,000 in the first year to around 14.5 million. The revolution in laparoscopic treatment has been a key driver of the company s success. in 2006 SiSk Group acquired Cardiac Services, which was then owned by Bill Dempsey. Bill drove its development and growth over a 30 year period. it was founded in Belfast in 1968 and later opened offices in Dublin (1974) and Manchester (1990). Cardiac Services has 89 employees and supplies diagnostic and therapeutic equipment in ireland and the Uk. it also trains clinical staff in the use of its equipment. in March 2007, the company expanded in the Uk with the acquisition of Beaver Medical which distributes Philips cardiac diagnostics and equipment concerned with resuscitation, ECG, monitoring and foetal monitoring. in January 2007, Sisk bought west Dublin based company, Tekno Surgical, which was launched in 1996 to supply orthopaedic, plastic surgery and general surgical products in ireland. Tekno Surgical was started in 1996 by John Osborne and Michael Connole. Sisk s latest acquisition was Synapse Medical in July it supplies equipment into critical clinical areas, such as cardiology, endovascular, neuroradiology and stroke management. Synapse Medical, which was established in 1998 by William Costello, represents over 15 healthcare companies, and has recently secured its own pharmaceutical licence. Top left: Fraxel skin resurfacing laser (Tekno Surgical) Top right and opposite top right and left: Stryker orthopaedic implants (Tekno Surgical) Opposite bottom left: Laerdal Heartstart FRX AED (automatic external defibrillator) (Cardiac Services) Opposite bottom right: Rapid Response CPR

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