Business

Growing Newtownabbey manufacturer secures biggest ever contract in Dubai

Previous work carried out by ESF includes IMG Worlds of Adventure in Abu Dhabi
Previous work carried out by ESF includes IMG Worlds of Adventure in Abu Dhabi Previous work carried out by ESF includes IMG Worlds of Adventure in Abu Dhabi

A NEWTOWNABBEY street furniture manufacturer has secured its biggest ever contract win as it continues a programme of ongoing expansion into new markets and territories.

Environmental Street Furniture (ESF), headed by Alan Lowry, last month started work on a £600,000 deal to supply Dubai Arena, with the four-month project due for completion before Christmas.

"We're supplying security bollards to go the whole way around the perimeter to stop any ram raids with vehicles into the immediate vicinity. We're supplying benches, litter bins, we're supplying tree grates, we're basically doing a whole package. Everything in that job, apart from one item is being manufactured in Northern Ireland," he told The Irish News

"Dubai Arena will be the biggest contract we will do so far and that will be in excess of £600,000. Previous to that would have been £300,000."

The company has come a long way since trading began in February 2013 and is now working in 22 different countries, with an additional American office opening earlier this year.

ESF primarily specialises in street furniture, such as bins, benches and bollards and this year secured a contract to supply Stormont estate. It has also previously supplied innovative aluminium lighting columns for the Roads Service, which crumple in the event of impact with a vehicle.

In recent years, however the company has diversified and built up a strong export business supplying some of the biggest theme parks in the world, including internationally recognised brands such as Disney and Warner Bros.

"We started looking at how we could differentiate ourselves and one of the differentiators that came up was actually theming our products, particularly for theme parks," Mr Lowry said.

"That's been a really good side for us. In the last year we've ended up supplying a couple of really big projects in the theme park market. One of which we can talk about is the new Warner Bros park that just opened in Abu Dhabi. That was a huge project for us. We supplied lighting products for them.

"We were also contacted by a very well-known theme park in Hong Kong, whose headquarters is in Orlando. We're not allowed to use their name, but we're allowed to say they have a big mouse as their mascot. They had a new film out a few years ago called Moana and they were putting a new attraction in so they contacted us and asked us to design benches."

"What we're really trying to do is differentiate our offering in that we are doing something that nobody else is. That's made a big difference to our turnover and direction," he continued.

In addition to the company's core street furniture market and growing reputation among the theme park fraternity, ESF has also expanded into solar furniture, and last year launched the 'Stellar Bench', which offers mobile device charging, Wi-fi capability and LED lighting without the need for electricity. Already there is interest from university campuses for the product - designed, developed and manufactured all in Northern Ireland.

The innovative company has also become the exclusive distributor of the ‘SmartFlower’ solar system in Ireland.

Created in Austria, the SmartFlower is the world’s first all-in-one solar system that produces up to 40 per cent more output due to its advanced smart tracking.

In 2018 the company has secured its three largest contracts at Stormont, a craft village in Malta and the £600,000 deal struck with Dubai Arena - the three combined equate to the company's £1m turnover last year.

Looking ahead and Mr Lowry hopes to grow all strands of the business and add to the direct employment at the firm, which currently stands at nine. When asked if £10m turnover is possible in the coming years, the managing director said it is "very achievable", but is keen to grow at his own pace.

"If we were to say that's there's three or four of those jobs about every year all of a sudden £5m or £10m doesn't become that much of a stretch."

"I don't think the core nature of the business will change. If people have rubbish they'll put in the bin, they'll always be benches, they'll always be bollards, we're just looking to see where the differentiator is so that someone will pick us. We'll never be the biggest street furniture supplier in the world and neither would we want to be, but if we can be big in our niche markets - solar, street furniture and theme (parks) we can continue to be successful.," he added.