On October 23rd, Topline celebrated another seminal day in its Group’s 54-year history with the official opening of a new warehouse extension on its site in Naas, Co Kildare.
With one eye on future expansion and the other on the need to service its members more efficiently, Topline’s new 40,000 square foot warehouse extension was born out of a visit to the UK in May 2022. This visit included a tour of a drive through merchant warehouse facility in Wolverhampton and sowed the seeds for a creative design which incorporates a 9,500 square foot connecting canopy constructed to optimise site layout, connect the new warehouse with an existing one, and facilitate dry loading of product.
In addition to the new construction, significant enhancements were made to the existing yard infrastructure, with particular attention paid to future-proofing the site to manage anticipated drainage challenges associated with ongoing changes in climatic conditions.
Furthermore, keen to play its part in minimising environmental pollution, Topline also took the opportunity to replace its entire forklift fleet with 19 fully electric machines.
The official opening was attended by Topline members, staff and special guests, including a number of former Topline Directors and representatives of Martin Reddin Limited, Malone O’Regan Consulting Engineers and Hardware Association Ireland. It was especially nice to have two founding members of Topline present – Dermot Griffin of Griffin Hawe in Athy and current Group Chairman, Michael Doyle of Topline Doyles in Carlow.
For founding member and current Topline Chairman, Michael Doyle, this was an especially proud day:
“When I was involved with starting the Group over 50 years ago or indeed, when we moved onto this site over 40 years ago, I don’t think any of us envisaged that our Group would ever get to the point of having such a facility from which to serve our members. Furthermore, I am especially proud that these substantial building works and site improvements have been achieved without having to borrow a penny or impose any extra levies or fees on our members.”
Michael also paid special thanks to his fellow members for their patience and cooperation throughout the project, and complimented the Topline Project and Warehouse teams, led by COO, Conor O’Dwyer and Warehouse Manager, Pat McCarthy, for completing a very challenging project in less than 12 months.
On conclusion of the official ceremony, Topline members and staff made their way to the Killashee Hotel for what turned out to be a very enjoyable social event to mark the occasion.
