West Mayo engineering firm celebrates 50 years in business

THE founder of one of the west of Ireland's best-known mechanical and electrical engineering contracting firms recently celebrated a major milestone – his 50th year in business.

Sean Horan, Ballintubber, established his business in 1968, and recently welcomed family, current and former colleagues, customers and suppliers to a party in the family home.

"When I started in business, others in the sector were offering either mechanical or electrical services, but I decided to break the mould by offering clients both services together," said Sean.

Later, in 1978, Sean consolidated his business by establishing Sean Horan Ltd. with his wife Helen. It retained all the personal elements of the service delivered by Sean up to that point, and, indeed, customer service remains a cornerstone of the company to the present day.

Sean and Helen’s family continue to be strongly involved in the business, with their son Michael and daughter Noelle currently employed there.

Sean Horan Ltd. is fortunate that it continues to have many of the same clients Sean secured in his early years as a sole trader. This is testament to the company's ability to build lasting relationships by offering practical solutions to suit a client's requirements or constraints.

"I am very proud of the fact that so many customers have stayed with us from the very start, and that was partly why we recently held the celebration – to sincerely thank our loyal customers for their continuing support and trust," said Sean.

Among the early projects Sean secured were the heating installations at St. Patrick’s Church and school, Killawalla.

"Those were great jobs to get when starting out," said Sean. He went on to work on industrial projects for the Industrial Development Authority (IDA), the Office of Public Works (OPW), the Department of Education, Údarás na Gaeltachta, the Health Service Executive (HSE) and many clients in the private sector.

Sean prides himself on designing and installing bespoke mechanical and electrical solutions for clients in a vast array of settings including school, factories, schools, hotels, health centres, church and community centres.

"We visit the site, survey it closely to see what will work best there, and then deliver that solution. Because we combine electrical, plumbing, gas and heating work, we can deliver a full service in commercial or industrial premises," said Sean.

"Additionally, some of our work comes through architects and engineers. We work from Donegal to Clare," he said.

Sean was heavily involved in the fitting work for a number of advance factories constructed by the IDA throughout the west of Ireland in the 1970s and 1980s. These factories were finished with the express purpose of making them as attractive as possible to potential industrialists.

"We have worked in a lot of places over the years, including Knock Shrine and Knock Airport; Castlebar Library and Swimming Pool; Turlough House; Castlebar Army Barracks, and a whole host of other hotels, hospitals, factories and probably every Údarás estate in Connaught," said Sean. Indeed, there are not many schools in the west of Ireland where he hasn’t worked in the past 50 years.

"We believe in maintaining high standards, offering a quality service, being honest and fair and always doing the best for all of our clients. The company has evolved since its beginnings, keeping pace with industry advances, best practices and constantly training to ensure clients can continue to receive a full service."

Sean served his time with Ernie Everard, Castlebar, before setting up his own business.

"When I started out, it was all hand tools – you had to bore every hole. If you had a drill, it didn’t have hammer action – that came much later," explained Sean.

"You had to hand thread pipes, it made for much slower and harder work whereas you have machine threaders now."

Technology has changed the construction sphere almost beyond all recognition but Sean was always an early adapter of technology, a trait he shares with Michael and Noelle. "I was always watching out for something that would speed up the work, as long as it didn’t result in reduced quality," said Sean.

That willingness to embrace the new has seen the family business diversify into renewable technologies over the past ten years. Michael is particularly adept in this field, and they are now heavily involved in installing photovoltaic (PV) panels and carrying out energy upgrades to make buildings more efficient.

"Renewable technologies are here to stay. We have erected a turbine at our own home to show that we believe in what we install – we see first-hand the savings that even a small turbine can bring."

In 2017, Sean Horan Ltd was awarded the Plumbing & Heating Magazine Renewable Project of the Year, sponsored by Worcester Bosch, in recognition of an energy retrofit project completed at the Irish Wheelchair Association (IWA) premises in Belmullet.

The project, which was undertaken as part of the SEAI Better Energy Communities scheme led by Mayo County Council and in partnership with Údarás na Gaeltachta, involved Sean Horan Ltd. supplying, installing and commissioning a ground-mounted, grid-connected 11kW solar PV array, interconnected to the building’s 3-phase power supply. PV energy is the direct conversion of sunlight into electricity.

A quiet man by nature, Sean goes about his business with little fuss, and continues to derive great enjoyment from his work. He is wished many more years of enjoyment.

* Pictured are members of the Horan family - Yvonne and Niall Ward, Joseph, Sean, Helen, Noelle, Christopher, Michael, Aiden and Taragh Horan, at the celebration ceremonies to mark Sean's 50th year in business.