Castlewellan firms send almost 100 workers to sites across the water

Castlewellan firms send almost 100 workers to sites across the water

1 June 2016

THERE has been an unusual turn of the tide for a rural area decimated by youth emigration.

Dozens of young tradesmen who quit recession-torn Castlewellan for Australia in 2011 are being lured home by new work opportunities.

But their return is often part-time with many leaving their families at dawn on Mondays to catch the red-eye flights to London for a working week on the city’s booming building sites.

Such returning emigrants are among almost 100 joiners, electricians and plumbers who undertake a 400-mile weekly commute from the area’s remote town-lands for family firms Kane Heating and Alternative Heat.

Cathal McMullan, who runs the companies with his four brothers, confirmed that many of those who left the area because of the troubled construction market five or six years ago are returning from Australia even if it means working away during the week.

He said these local tradesmen, and those returning from abroad, seemed particularly keen to travel to work on London projects because of their experience on larger sites in some of the world’s biggest cities. He said they were key to the companies’ growing success in Scotland and England.

Even the complicated logistics of exporting their own workers, which requires two full-time staff members to look after flights, accommodation and supplies, was worthwhile, he said, because of the “quality and reliability of local men.”

“You can get let down in this business a lot but the approach of our workers is that the work gets done. There is great commitment,” he said.

“A lot of people have worked with us for a long time and consider themselves to work for the McMullans rather than either of the companies.

“They are great tradesmen, a mix of family men and singles who now travel every week. We are loyal to them and they are loyal to us.”

Proud of the family-oriented nature of their business, he said the Castlewellan community’s focus on family life means workers will undertake the big commute to England as long as they have their weekend at home.

“Most of these men do not want to uproot their families as their lives are local. They have seen out the worst of the recession and do not want to move their children to new schools and houses,” he said.

“Family connections and quality of life are so important in this area and farming can also be a big tie.”

Mr McMullan said his brothers’ decision to tap into work across the UK was taken in 2008 as the recession took hold.

By then, he said, there was no work north or south so they made their way to London where as “newcomers and Irish” they at first made little progress.

Their first big break came from a French firm which expressed a preference for working with an Irish company because of their reputation within construction.

Growing to a workforce of over 100, they were given a significant boost three years ago when Alternative Heat secured a mult-million pound biomass order from the Scottish Highland Council.

The remote nature of this job, which they were determined to do well, meant there was once again no option but to bring local men along.

“When you are in the outer reaches of the Highlands you need to know everything will be there on time and for that reason we also use local suppliers who we know well,” said Cathal.

“Sometimes you needed workers who would be three weeks there and one week at home but they were committed to get the job done.”

Having adapted to the super-commuting lifestyle since 2008, and used to 4am starts that will have him in the office for 8.30am, Cathal said he believed the local economy was now significantly boosted by the hundreds of tradesmen now treading the same path.

“It is definitely getting more noticeable through the airports on Monday mornings,” he said.

“There are lots in it from the same background in the construction game and from this area alone there are so many commuting that it is having a big impact on the economy.

“Things are not picking up here and for that reason 95 per cent of what we do is in London. You get used to the travel so it does not affect you that much. This trend is about survival.”