Tempo based electrical contractors, GR White & Son have just been awarded a street lighting contract in Glasgow worth £750,000.
The contract is part of a massive regeneration project in two areas, Tradeston and Broomielaw, on opposite sides of the River Clyde in central Glasgow which will see new buildings being built and new public spaces created along the banks of the river.
GR White & Son have won the contract for all the public lighting of these new 'public realm' areas and the Tempo firm have also secured the lucrative CCTV contract for the scheme.
And, the award of this contract comes just a few months after the same firm won the road lighting contract on the improvement works on the Westlink in Belfast.
Talking about winning the new contract, Rodney White explained that Graham's, the construction firm, would be a big customer of theirs and that GR White & Son first tendered for the lighting contract (for Graham's) for the Glasgow scheme back in December 2006.
"We only found out the day before the Christmas holidays that we had been awarded the contract in Glasgow," said a delighted Mr White.
"This will be a very high-profile job, bang in the middle of Glasgow. We will be providing all the public lighting for a scheme about ten times wider than the new Queen Elizabeth boulevard (in Enniskillen)."
The Tempo firm will also have to wire a new supply to a floating ferry, moored along the Clyde, which operates as a bar and restaurant.
Rodney White surmised that when it comes to road lights and specialist lighting projects, GR White and Son would be the leaders in Northern Ireland at present: "We would be the market leader as far as this style of work goes," he said.
This contract in Glasgow is by no means the firm's first contract outside Northern Ireland for they have previously completed work in Dublin, the Isle of Man and Edinburgh.
HOSPITAL SITE
And, future contracts that GR White & Son will be undertaking include site enabling works at the new Enniskillen hospital site and the new David Prentice BMW garage in Omagh. The firm employs up to 20 of its own staff, but they also sub-contract out a lot of work when involved in the bigger schemes.
"We have employed specialist sub-contractors to carry out the CCTV part of the Glasgow project," he explained. "We employ sub-contractors on a lot of the schemes we are involved in.
"And, we have just invested a lot of money in a new state of the art lighting hoist."
The hoist, which came from Italy, is the first of its kind here in Northern Ireland.
Talking about one of their current jobs, on the Westlink in Belfast, Rodney reported that work is ongoing.
"This will be the biggest year of the project as work on the underpass is due to commence shortly".
He explained that 300 lights will have to be installed here to provide drivers with the effect of daytime light, and that this will be the largest exterior lighting contract undertaken in Ireland this year.
And, while GR White & Son are going from strength to strength, Rodney White was eager to stress they never forget the 'grassroots', and that their small, local customers in Tempo and Fermanagh are still the key to their business, and the key to their success.
"The small domestic and industrial jobs might be there when the larger ones are not", he suggested. "We haven't outgrown our local customers. No job is too small for us".The Glasgow contract is to start on 4th February and is expected to run until October / November of 2008.
