Managing Director Ger Healy explains how Pipelife Ireland’s acquisition of Cork Plastics will expand the company’s portfolio and market presence in Ireland and the UK.
Pipelife is one of Ireland’s leading manufacturers and providers of plastic piping systems. Ger Healy, Pipelife Ireland’s Managing Director says “Specialising in the extrusion of polyethylene (PE)
pipes, the company offers products for the heating & plumbing, water pressure, electricity cable ducting, gas, and agricultural sectors. It has expanded its product lines with the acquisition of Cork Plastics in 2021. Cork Plastics together with its sister company in the UK, Floplast, represented a great opportunity for Pipelife to expand its product portfolio and market presence
in both countries,”
The Cork Plastic’s product ranges were very complementary to Pipelife Ireland’s existing product ranges, with the additional advantage of providing a very solid sales presence in underground sewage and above-ground soil products. The Cork Plastics range of roofline products was also of particular interest to Pipelife’s parent company, Wienerberger, with its bricks, façade, and roof tiles business.
“The main objectives of the takeover were to expand Pipelife’s footprint in both Ireland and the UK by consolidating with an established successful business, while simultaneously expanding our product offering into new categories, thus enhancing Pipelife’s overall appeal to its existing customer base that is broadly similar to Cork Plastics. With a significant investment now underway at our production facility in Little Island, Cork, this will result in us having one of the most modern facilities within the Pipelife Group. Actually, Pipelife Ireland and Cork Plastics business now make the Irish operation the second biggest manufacturing operation within the group.”
An initial capital investment of €30m has already commenced to expand and upgrade the existing Cork Plastics site. By 2026 there will be 35 state-of-the-art extrusion lines incorporating the latest automation technologies, with a planned output
approaching 45,000 tonnes per annum.
“Our primary goal is to be a provider of industry-leading products and services to the building sector. Pipelife recognises that modern systems require fully designed specifications that our customers can have confidence in. As such, we are investing heavily in in-house design services, particularly, but by no means exclusively in the heating sector. We will provide custom-designed systems to the building, with full-design indemnity insurance and full-life after-sales support services.
Our motto is “Our reputation, your peace of mind,” and this goal remains the cornerstone of everything we do.”
Ger continued “Developers, builders, and homeowners are faced with ever-increasing upfront costs for new builds with regulatory changes and the move to low temperature, low-emission heating systems impacting building design and heating systems. In these situations, scale brings efficiency, so the greatly enhanced scale of the new Pipelife Ireland operations following the Cork Plastic acquisition will allow us to invest and provide competitively priced class leading design services and products. The inclusion of the Cork Plastics product portfolio allows for a much more detailed design and specification service to be offered on a whole-house basis.”
“The significant investment in new equipment, personnel, and services in our sector in the country will position our Irish operations as a world-class manufacturing facility for many years to come. The investment also shows Pipelife’s long-term commitment to the Irish market and the scale, modernity, and product portfolio will make Pipelife very attractive as a supply chain partner for the major merchant groups, builders, and installers in the country.”
For further information please contact: T: +353 (0) 21 451 0600 E: ireland@pipelife.com. Discover the full product range at www.pipelife.ie or www.corkplastics.ie.
