M O’Brien Plant Hire takes a professional approach to Plant Hire and assures the construction industry that they are receiving the highest quality service for all of their Plant requirements.
We’ve come a long way since 1991, but the core goals and values of our business remain the same, To supply first class machinery and operatives to the UK’s construction industry. We continue to innovate and improve our offering, and provide a fantastic work environment for our hard working teams.
We invest in only the best Machinery to ensure we can provide a quality and reliable service to all of our customers no matter how big or small the Job. M O’Brien can supply a complete solution throughout our range from 0.5 tonne to 90 tonne excavators from 1 tonne to 50 tonne dumpers along with our range of tele-handlers, rollers, tractors and a huge variety of attachments we can supply a nationwide complete hire solution.
M O’Brien Plant Hire is renowned nationwide for its quality of machine operatives. We only employ the best, reliable and experienced operators to work with our machines. We have worked alongside our drivers for years and have a strong crew of talented individuals who have the M O’Brien Work ethic and conscientiousness to carry out the task to the highest standard.
As a minimum, all of our operators have:
Michael O’Brien was just 19 years old when he left Ireland to come to the UK in search of work. He very quickly found opportunity in the UK construction industry, initially starting out as a ground works labourer. As time went by, young Michael forged a desire to operate the machines and “blagged” his way into the seat during lunch breaks. During these periods he used to practice hard to perfect his skills and in time he was given his own machine to operate.
In 1990 Michael decided to have a go at machine ownership, and in conjunction with his wife Annamarie, the early foundations of the group were laid starting with M O’Brien Plant hire, which at the time was based in Luton. Michael’s first ever machine was a JCB 3CX, which they ran out of there back garden in the town. As the business expanded they were eventually running no less than 11 JCB’s – still from their garden! As one can imagine the neighbours soon got fed up with the sound of machines firing up at 5am in the morning and the late night sound of sledgehammers and tools clanging as repairs were carried out in preparation for the next day’s graft. It was at that time that the company purchased it’s first yard in Markyate, which today houses the groups head office and accounts department.
Today the business runs in excess of 800 pieces of equipment, employs 50 office based staff spread between two depots, around 700 plant operators at any one time plus supporting plant engineers and yard staff out of their premises near St Albans adjacent to the M1. The business operates not only locally but on a nationwide basis, providing a one stop plant solution to a wide variety of clients including blue-chip company’s such as Balfour Beatty, Skanska, Costain, Morgan Sindall, Bam Nuttall and HS2 to name but a few.
With the addition of Haulage and Contracting capabilities the group has diversified into a range of construction service providers supplying blue chip clients with our services including Earthworks and land remediation, Drainage installation, Demolition & Dismantling services, Aggregate Supply and quarry management services.
Being an Owner managed multi discipline supplier, we maintain a business ethos based on our core values that have seen the company grow to where we stand today. We care about our people, the communities in which we operate and take pride in the service we provide. Our core staff are long term high calibre individuals employed directly to our businesses who share these values and are responsible for the highly held reputation that the M O’Brien group of companies has earned.
1990 – M O’Brien Plant Hire is formed with the purchase of the first JCB 3XC
Get in touch with us to arrange a quotation for any of our excavators, dozers, tippers, tractors, trucks telehandlers or more you can call, email or use message us via the website. We will get back to you asap.