FIFTEEN years ago two Donegal friends took a leap of faith and left secure, stable jobs to set up their own recruitment company.
Today, 3D Personnel is a leading name in construction recruitment for the UK, Ireland and Europe with a turnover in excess of £50 million (Stg) last year.
The company employs more than seventy office-based staff, supplying on average 1,300 operates to sites across Europe each week.
Damian Doherty from Letterkenny and Michael Byrne from Glencolmcille, who founded 3D Personnel in 2007, are getting ready to open an office in Liverpool (their ninth in the UK). They have offices in Dublin, Cork and Galway as well as one in Wroclaw, Poland.
Speaking to the Donegal News from his home in Southampton this week, Damian (43) said that the past two weeks had seen a ‘massive pick-up’ in business in Ireland to complement their UK operations which have continued to grow despite Brexit and the Coronavirus.
The son of Patrick and the late Bernie Doherty, Middle Road, Ballyraine, Damian has three brothers Paul, Ciaran and Daithi – all of whom continue to live in the Cathedral town.
Having completed his Leaving Certificate in St Eunan’s College, Damian did an Arts degree in University College, Galway. He would complete a HDip before moving to London in 2000, taking up employment with O’Neill and Brennan, a dedicated recruitment solutions business.
“That company was set up by a Donegal lad, Gerry Brennan from Dungloe, and a lad from Galway. It was while working with them that I first got to know Michael Byrne. He had played Minor and U21 with Donegal and is a native of Glencolmcille.
“I had moved to the south coast in 2001 after I set up an office for them in Southampton and in 2007 Michael and myself decided to come together and set up 3D Personnel.
“We opened our first office in Dublin followed by Belfast and then over the next few years we set up two more in Ireland (Galway and Cork) and multiple sites in the UK including Southampton, London and Birmingham.
“We’ve also opened an office in Derry to serve the North West as we edge ever closer to getting back to Letterkenny,” he laughed.
In 2010, the company opened an office in Wroclaw to supply staff ahead of the 2012 Euro finals which was co-hosted by Poland and Ukraine.
3D Personnel has built a strong relationship with clients in the construction industry placing candidates in temporary, fixed-term and permanent roles.
“Our vision is to keep growing the company in a number of areas, including hospitality, catering and tourism, accountancy, finance and IT where we see considerable growth over the next four to five years.
The company also supply staff to a number of data centres around Europe.
“Once the borders reopen and we can do a bit more travelling we will look at expanding our operations into Europe over the next year or two,” he said.
“In 2016 we set up a sub-contracting division – 3D Specialist Contracting – where we look after logistics, waste management and general sub-contracting needs for companies in Ireland and the UK
“We were lucky that building sites in the UK stayed open throughout much of the past year allowing us to continue working as normal.
“If anything the work has picked up since last October/November time and it’s busier than ever. Ireland, on the other hand, had been a lot quieter but we’ve seen a massive pick-up in the past two weeks and we’ve now between 350 and 400 people back on site. It’s very positive. There’s a lot of big contracts in Dublin and throughout Ireland at the present time,” he said.
With Damian and Michael both being from Donegal it’s not surprising to see a number of Donegal employees on their books.
Ciaran Greene, from Letterkenny, was promoted to the role of Sales Director last month while former Donegal GAA goalkeeper Michael Boyle from Termon works as a commercial manager in the company’s London office. Cathal Brennan from Dungloe works in Dublin while Robert Fullerton from Newtowncunningham leads out their operation in Derry.
Former Donegal manager Rory Gallagher, now the Derry boss, works between their Belfast and Dublin offices while 2012 All-Ireland winners Paul Durcan and Patrick McBrearty are also former employees.
“There’s a big GAA connection as Michael is heavily involved with his local Naomh Columba club – he’s their chairman this year,” he said.
3D Personnel do a lot of work for Pat Doherty’s Harcourt Developments. The company had staff working with Harcourt in the Titanic Quarter in Belfast for five years while they’re with them on sites in Liverpool and Dublin at the minute.
Gilbert Ash, McLaughlin & Harvey, Berkeley Homes, McAleer & Rushe, Vinci and Trant Engineering are among a host of other companies who work closely with 3D Personnel.
“There’s so much on at the minute that our problem could be getting people to do the work as there will be a slowdown of people coming into the UK from other parts of Europe.
“2020 was a strange year but there’s a vibrant marketplace out there – especially in Ireland where there’s a lot of infrastructural and commercial projects ongoing,” he said.
Married to Emer, the couple have three young children Aoibhinn (10), Odhran (8) and Orlaith (5).
“The biggest problem at the moment is that they’re all mad to get home to see their cousins. Hopefully, when the school year finishes we’ll be able to get them back to Donegal for a few weeks – at least,” he said.
Damian lives near the New Forest on England’s south coast. He is a season ticket at Southampton’s St Mary’s Stadium and attended their match against Leeds United on Tuesday (May 18) at which a limited number of supporters were allowed to attend.
“It’s (football) is a nice release from the work. There’s long hours in this job and working from home since Covid the days seem to have got even longer but it’s been good and I’m glad that we took the leap of faith and decided to go out on our own in 2007.
“We’re always on the look out for staff. People from home who are thinking of relocating to the UK can make contact via the company website and we’ll do our best to help look after them,” he said.
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