Last updated October 26th 2022
John Sisk & Son
Founded in Cork in 1859, John Sisk is a leading major contractor in Ireland and works widely across the country with a last-reported UK turnover of around £383 million.
The firm works across a wide range of sectors including advanced manufacturing, commercial, data/ICT, education, healthcare and life sciences, residential, sports & leisure, transport and infrastructure and has around 630 employees. As well as Ireland, Sisk also works across Benelux, the Nordics and Dach and its total group turnover is around £1.5 billion euros.
Landmark UK projects where the company is working include the Birmingham Health Innovation Campus and Quintain’s major development at Wembley Park, where Sisk is building almost 800 new flats.
In spring 2022, the company appointed Ajaz Shafi as chief operating officer of its UK business, which followed the appointment a COO Paul Brown as chief executive late in 2021.
Under their leadership, the company is aiming to expand in key sectors such as data centres and life sciences and grow its regional presence in the North and North East and in the Home Counties.
The group puts an emphasis on innovation; the firm used digital project delivery and lean construction methods on contracts for Center Parcs and it claims to be the first contractor in Europe to use robotics on construction projects. Sisk has also worked widely on data centres, particularly in Belgium, Holland, Finland and Denmark.
The group’s latest annual report published in late-September 2022 pointed to a strong pipeline of new projects for 2022 and 2023 with both new and existing clients.
Financials
To see the latest financial results from John Sisk & Son Ltd, go to Companies House and see company no. 1973332
Sisk’s latest results showed it put in a good performance in the year to December 2021. Although turnover dipped slightly to £382.9 million from £390.2 million previously, operating profit re-bounded spectacularly to £8.45 million from £2.83 million in 2020, when Covid peaked. Pre-tax profit rose to £8.43 million from £2.84 million. Meanwhile, the group maintained healthy cash balances of £57.2 million, compared with £62.3 million previously.
UK Operating Businesses
Sisk is maintaining a healthy UK workload through a series of flagship projects across its core sectors.
In late September 2022, Sisk won a £227 million fixed price contract from Quintain to deliver two major new residential buildings involving 2, 000 new homes and public space at the developer”s Wembley Park North East Land site. It is the latest in a series of contracts Sisk has worked on for Quintain on its 85-acre development site in north west London.
Meanwhile, Sisk recently completed Birmingham’s tallest residential tower – Moda, The Merican – a 42-storey, £260 million ‘Chicago-style’ development which involved over 480 flats with retail, leisure and commercial space.
In the tech sector, Sisk recently topped out No.1 Birmingham Health Innovation Campus – the city’s new specialist life sciences hub – where it is working with Bruntwood SciTech on a £45 development due to complete in 2023. Elsewhere, Sisk is working on two buildings at The Oxford Science Park; the 86,000 sq ft lab and office Iversen Building for tech companies and the 78,500 sq ft Leggett Building.
Sisk has also recently started work on a 21 million euros National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training (NIBRT) project in Dublin.
The group’s civils workload received a boost in July 2022 when it won a £100 million design and build contract for the infrastructure package phase of the York Central masterplan, secured through the YORCivil framework. It includes a new road bridge and footbridge over the East Coast Main Line, 2km of single carriageway road, a rail spur to the National Railway Museum and other works.
In the regeneration sector, Sisk started work in summer 2022 on Capital & Centric’s £60 million redevelopment of Stockport”s historic Weir Mill – with some 250 flats – as a focus for a new creative neighbourhood and with funding from Stockport Council and Stockport Mayoral Development Corporation.
Glenigan Data
Glenigan Data highlights Sisk’s position as a leading contractor in the country. It shows Sisk ranks 22nd on a recent league table of UK contractors with 13 major contracts in the year to September 2022 worth a total of £597.7 million; divided between civils £85.9 million and building £511.8 million. Glenigan data also shows that Sisk is bidding on a £100 million scheme of 355 flats at the Arundel Castlefield Development in Manchester where a preferred bidder has been appointed and work is due to start in spring 2023 (Project ID: 17368196).
Conclusion
Sisk might have a long history of working in both Ireland and the UK but the company has shown itself adept in taking advantage of contemporary trends in the industry. The group has carved out a strong market share of some significant emerging sectors, notably in construction work for the life sciences sector and it has secured strong relationships with developers of hi-rise apartment blocks. The firm”s recent success in securing work on the York Central masterplan shows it can also hold its own in the infrastructure sector. Taking on fixed price work – as the company has with a £227 million contract for Quintain at Wembley Park – may seem ambitious in the current climate but after a strong re-bound from Covid, the group appears well-placed to continue on its growth path.
Winning work with Sisk
Sisk aims to treat its sub-contractors and suppliers as partners in winning work and in all, it spends over €1bn annually across a supply chain of 7,856 companies. A link is available on the company’s website to register an interest in joining the firm’s supply chain. For other supply chain queries, the company can be contacted via supplychain@sisk.ie (for Ireland and Europe and supplychain@sisk.co.uk (for the UK).
Key contacts
Eric Kiernan, Head Of Supply Chain – Building UK
Based at Warrington.
Telephone: 01925 245424
Chris Merricks, Supply Chain Manager – Ireland & Europe
Telephone: 01727 875551