Tulloch Developments Ltd
Operating across the Scottish Shetland Islands, Tulloch Developments Ltd., represents a family owned business that undertakes a multitude of construction and quarrying activities
Serving the community
Operating across the Scottish Shetland Islands, Tulloch Developments Ltd., represents a family owned business that undertakes a multitude of construction and quarrying activities
Founded in 1973 by Mr. Peter Tulloch as a small joinery and house building business, Tulloch Developments (Tulloch) is a construction company based in Lerwick on the Scottish Shetland Islands. The business has expanded the scope of its operations steadily throughout its history and today operates within a diverse span of projects, including everything from house building to harbour works and civil engineering projects. During 1978 the company began trading as Tulloch Construction, with Peter running the business to primarily undertake building works, private and social housing projects and construction work for the local authority. In 1986 the company officially became Tulloch Developments Ltd., with Peter retiring from the day-today running of the business and handing control of the firm over to his sons Frank Tulloch and Alistair Tulloch.
“Although we continued mainly with house building works, by the mid-1980s we were winning larger projects that included the construction of leisure centres, swimming pools and care homes for example,” explains Director, Frank Tulloch. “At around this time we also started to gain some smaller civil engineering projects within the water industry for the laying of new water mains and the replacement of sewers and pumping stations. Carrying out these kinds of works would allow the company to start purchasing the plant and equipment that would be required to undertake larger projects in the future.”
With growing expertise and new plant coming into the business, Tulloch quickly started to build a name for itself within new areas, winning its first marine construction contract in 2000. This project called for Tulloch to extend the harbour at Cullivoe on Yell, one of Shetland’s northerly islands. The port was ultimately extended both on time and on budget, which would lead to Tulloch taking on further projects within the marine sector. At the same time as the company was beginning to undertake harbour extensions and marine works, Tulloch was also expanding with various road building projects and groundwork contracts for other local building companies.
In 2005, Mr. George Smith became a Director with the company, bringing with him many years of experience within the construction industry. Over the last ten to 12 years, Tulloch has continued to grow and is now one of the largest construction companies in Shetland.
In 2012 Tulloch acquired the operation of the Staney Hill Quarry and Landfill Site, situated just outside the town of Lerwick, which allowed the company to further develop the quarrying business and install a ready mix concrete plant, while also gaining the ability to service all of its own stone and aggregate requirements.
With this unique breadth of activities, Tulloch is able to offer the inhabitants of the Shetland Islands a comprehensive service package of capabilities that address the requirements of a broad base of challenging construction operations. “The main strength of Tulloch is that we are prepared to try any kind of work and that there really are not many projects that we would not attempt. We are currently undertaking house building, which harks back to the roots of the business, but our service portfolio has grown to be quite broad,” Frank says. “This is an important aspect of the business because we are working within a relatively small geographical market, where there is a need to operate a diverse service portfolio to take full advantage of the work that is available.”
By leveraging its extensive range of construction services and equipment, Tulloch has undertaken several important projects across the Shetland Islands in recent years, including involvement in the construction of the island’s Total Gas Plant. This represented a milestone project for Tulloch that allowed the company to set the foundation for future large-scale operations. The list of tasks at the site included the development of a substation for Scottish and Southern Energy and work with Morrison Construction on two subcontracts, one of which included a £700,000 park-and-ride car park at Sella Ness, needed in order to allow terminal staff to have access to car parking.
The successful completion of Tulloch involvement of works at the Total Gas Plant was later followed by the further development of the Holmsgarth North Pier. The Holmsgarth pier development was the sixth new-build marine contract to be awarded to Tulloch by the Lerwick Port Authority and involved the construction of a new 805-metre sheet piled jetty, built using locally sourced rockfill and supporting a concrete deck. The contract also called for the demolition and removal of a 1970s jetty, which was constructed during the early days of the North Sea oil industry. This required the removal of a 500mm thick concrete deck and the cutting of steel piles at some 50cm below sea-bed level.
Having successfully completed works for the Total Gas Plant, as well as the Holmsgarth North Pier in addition to several other projects in recent years, Tulloch is well placed with an extended fleet of plant equipment to meet the challenges of any future project. While the market is slightly slowed in the wake of current local authority cuts to newbuild projects and the decline in North Sea oil operations, Tulloch remains on-hand to undertake any required construction projects while it waits for possible future opportunities to emerge. “The Total job enabled us to invest a lot more than we normally would into plant during a two-three year period. We were able to buy some new excavators and lorries, as well as a new £600,000 Tadano crane which arrived with us during 2015,” Frank concludes. “The hope of the business is naturally to continue to grow during the coming years, but it is very difficult to predict what the market will do over the coming months. There is the possibility of a new power station being built here in Shetland and I think that a lot of contractors are waiting to hear whether that will go ahead. There should be a decision regarding this during September 2017, which would represent a major project for the Shetland Islands should it go ahead.”
Tulloch Developments Ltd
Services: Multi-disciplined construction business