Dragados UK and Ireland has built an unbeatable formula of industry experience, financial muscle, and technological innovation to manage the conception, financing, design, construction, operation, and maintenance of ground-breaking infrastructure projects.
A NEW CLASS OF CONSTRUCTION
Dragados UK and Ireland (Dragados) is the wholly owned subsidiary of the Dragados Group.
After securing significant highway construction projects in the UK during the 1990s, the group officially established its UK and Ireland branch in 2006.
Setting up the foundations for acquiring more business and winning some of the UK’s most high-profile infrastructure projects has, in a short space of time, indicated the strength and clarity of Dragados’ goals.
The company has integrated and responded successfully to the demands of the UK and Irish markets, using its own culture to bring a fresh perspective, innovation, and new way of working on some of the country’s most complex engineering challenges.
Utilising a world-class team of engineering experts, the Dragados Group has also completed flagship projects all over the world across the water and transport sectors, including numerous major high-speed rail projects.
A considerable portfolio of work has been realised by the group’s sheer size, technical intricacy, latest technology, innovation, and careful operation.
This elite prowess has earned awards for health and safety, community engagement, and construction excellence along the way.
BUILDING A BRAND
The Dragados Group represents the impressive culmination of a strong entrepreneurial vocation, built over more than 90 years of activity, in which thousands of people have helped form one of the most important and promising companies in the construction sector – both in Europe and worldwide.
Having been awarded its first subway project in Spain in 1944, flash forward to 1965, and the group had begun an international push, winning its first contract for underground works.
Since then, the Dragados Group has been awarded more than 550 underground projects in 20 countries on five continents.
It specialises in the study, design, and execution of all civil and building infrastructure projects, with unique expertise in jobs which are unique due to their technical complexity, construction procedures, scale, or high level of specialisation.
The numerous milestones achieved throughout the Dragados Group’s history endorse its professional trajectory, with notable achievements in the areas of transport infrastructure, hydraulic works, and underground works within the civil engineering sector.
In the vast and ever-expanding construction sector, the group’s specialisation is evident in its execution of large, non-residential projects.
Alongside this, the Dragados Group has worked tirelessly to achieve the size, financial capacity, and technological innovation necessary to assume comprehensive infrastructure management through the process of conception, financing, design, construction, operation, and maintenance.
KEY PROJECTS
One of Dragados’ most notable projects to date is the Waterford Bridge, a landmark structure for Waterford, Ireland, and the surrounding areas, which features the longest spanning bridge structure in the country.
This cable-stayed bridge has a single main concrete pylon measuring 378 feet (ft) high on the southern bank of the river. A series of stay cables fan out from the top of the tower to support the main span at intervals of about 33ft. Corresponding cables fan to the back span, using the weight of the structure as well as anchor piles to balance the forces.
Over in the UK, Dragados was also responsible for the Bank Station Capacity Upgrade (BSCU) on the London Underground.
Located in the heart of the city’s financial district, Bank station is a major transport gateway and remains strategically important to London and the UK’s economy.
It is a network-critical destination and interchange station for Transport for London (TfL), hosting well over 100,000 passengers in peak periods with nearly 400,000 journeys every weekday.
The essential work carried out by Dragados on the BSCU has improved passenger access, circulation, and interchange. These improvements have increased capacity by 45 percent during peak hours and reduced overall journey times.
Additionally, the BSCU has delivered a new passenger entrance on Cannon Street with lift and escalator connections, Northern Line passenger concourse, southbound train and platform tunnel, and internal passenger connections between underground lines, alongside step-free access and moving walkways.
INNOVATION IS KEY
Dragados considers innovation to be one of the key factors required to develop the initial bid, project, and execution of civil works and build projects’ infrastructure.
In this way, the company promotes a creative corporate culture that encourages innovation and supports the use of groundbreaking technologies, processes, products, and materials.
This policy results in increased profitability thanks to the high level of client satisfaction and improvements in safety, productivity, and quality within every facet of the business.
By disseminating its expertise and experience, Dragados supports the education and knowledge of the most up-to-date techniques, liaising with research and technology centres, universities, as well as private institutions connected with innovation to supplement optimised capabilities.
With many signature projects completed in the UK and Ireland and a tried and tested operating model in place, Dragados is set to continue thriving as it adds to its world-class construction portfolio.
