When I applied for the total revamp of our heating system through the Summer Work Scheme (SWS) 2016/2017 in November 2015 little did I think that it would be three years later, in November 2018, that this project would be wrapped. With the Dept. of Education & Skills (DES) not issuing Letters of Grant Approval until May, our Board of Management (BoM) decided to complete the work in two phases, one in each of the two summers of 2017 and 2018. The downside to this was that the DES insisted that we would have to tender separately for each of the two phases.
I was delighted to learn in June 2017 from our consultants, Delap and Waller (Belfast), that having advertised on E-tenders that local company, FERM ENGINEERING headed by Jim Mc Cabe, had secured the contract for Phase 1. Given that the school was in operation in September we decided to replace the boiler which was located in an external room leaving the staff and pupils to get on with teaching and learning uninterrupted. It was a pleasure to work with the FERM team led by Luke Mc Gee, a past pupil.
It was back to the drawing board in the Spring of 2018 when Phase 2, which involved all the internal work, was advertised on E-tenders. Continuity was maintained when FERM ENGINEERING won the contract again. They moved on site in the afternoon that the school closed for the summer (27 June) and nine weeks later to the day the job was completed to the satisfaction of the entire school community (BoM, staff, parents and pupils). With my almost daily visits to the school, I found FERM’S team of skilled employees, led this time by Darren Mularkey to be courteous and hard working. The co-operation that I had from Jim Mc Cabe was at a level that I have witnessed only once before. An obliging and reliable individual, it is therefore with complete confidence that I recommend Jim’s business, FERM ENGINEERING.
Enda Nolan
Principal, Scoil an Linbh Íosa, Donegal
