McMullen’s glass full with £35m contracts

Operating in North America, continental Europe and the British Isles, the firm is to provide facades for five high-profile projects over the next 15 months including Regent’s Place, a sustainably designed 13-acre fully managed estate in central London, working directly for British Land.

Welcoming the firm’s latest successes, managing director Ted McMullen said they were a promising sign for the construction sector.

“These contracts are a major boost for McMullen and a reflection of the specialist skill set and services we provide, plus our ability to compete for and deliver major construction projects,” he said.

“There are signs that the recovery of the construction sector is beginning to gather momentum in GB and hopefully we will see a similar trend occurring in the local sector.

“To have secured a busy order book is positive for the local construction sector, however, as we will be designing and fabricating the curtain walling off-site in Moira, before transporting and installing it in London.”

Additional contracts announced by the firm will see McMullen providing specialist facades for a £2.7m student accommodation project, Building T6, at Kings Cross, an £8.5m contract for one of the tallest residential towers in London on Alie Street, an £8m facade project for the 22-storey Aldgate Tower where work has restarted following a postponement in October 2008, and a £5.3m contract to provide glazing facades for two new medical research buildings on the Old Road campus of Oxford University.

“These projects represent unique challenges to meet the very high specifications and it reflects our position in the market place that the tenders we compete for are usually only against continental or Chinese competition,” said Mr McMullen.

The bespoke design requirements of such prestigious developments in London necessitated a large and experienced design office, which he said now numbered more than 50.

Most of the those are based at Moira but the firm also has a small team based in Warsaw, Poland.

“These façade engineers have developed with the company to be the leaders in their field in the UK, and along with our ability to deliver the pre-fabricated product reliably, has allowed us to continue to strengthen our relationships with our key customers,” Mr McMullen added.

Established in 1971 by his father, the late Edward McMullen, to service the local glazing market, McMullen Architectural Systems has developed into a multi-million dollar business, growing through expansion into new markets such as North America and acquisition within the UK.

It has a total complement of 226 staff; 163 at Moira, 28 in GB, 17 in Poland and 18 in the USA.