Over the past 15 years and counting, Albrim Ltd. has forged a stellar reputation as the premier provider of farm and industrial buildings in the midlands and beyond. We touched base with founder Roy Fairbrother to get an update on this industry-leading operation, which continues to go from strength to strength on the back of consistently delivering exceptional products and service.
Renowned for excellence in the fabrication and construction of farm and industrial buildings, Albrim has grown organically over the past decade-and-a-half since its inception, enjoying a natural evolution in response to keen demand.
Hands-on proprietor Roy Fairbrother, who established the business alongside his wife Muriel in 2010, has focused unswervingly on quality since the get-go and word of mouth has been the primary driver of Albrim as a packed portfolio of completed projects leads naturally to more and more work from repeat clients and new customers alike.
Priding themselves on providing a quality, friendly, reliable and value-for-money service, Roy and his experienced team of highly-skilled steel fabricators and erectors offer a wide range of fully-certified farm and industrial buildings, all of which are manufactured to the highest standard.
While natural trends in the economy have seen industrial work outstrip farm buildings more and more with each passing year, Albrim – which also manufactures a vast selection of bespoke structural steel products (from grain pusher blades to exhibition trailers, soil tippers, hand rails, balconies, etc.) – remains synonymous with the delivery of all kinds of agricultural buildings and this will no doubt always continue to be the case going forward:
“We’re very busy, thankfully, even though we’re not doing as many farm buildings as we used to,” Roy confirms. “We actually only did one agri job last year, but I’m currently in the process of pricing two more over in the Kinnity direction, which we’ll be doing later this year.
“The industrial buildings are absolutely booming at the minute and we’ve gravitated more and more towards them. It wasn’t something I planned … that’s just how things developed naturally. It’s all word of mouth, really; one client recommends you to another and the work keeps coming that way. We’ve never had to advertise or anything.”
Albrim’s track record for excellence precedes them and the vast array of perfectly-completed bespoke farm and industrial buildings stand as a lasting testament to their ability to deliver outstanding results every time.
“The farm building side of it has quietened off across the board because there are enough farm sheds already as it is,” the humble Laois man continues. “Trends are towards less stock, not more, and there are also a lot of people getting out of farming, with land going instead to renewables, for example. In Carlow, 1,600 acres recently went to solar panels and that land will never go back to farming again.
“It’s changing all the time and you have to move in line with these changes. You are getting more specialist farmers now – huge beef finishers and massive dairy enterprises. Pig farming and tillage were already like that. Suckers are nearly gone. Because of this, new three- and four-span farm sheds are almost a thing of the past.
“When they do want sheds, it’s generally bigger ones that they are looking for. The two sheds I’ll be building later this year will hold 200 cattle each and these are on farms that already have 1,200-1,400 capacities. Demand for smaller farm sheds has dried up. There was a big boom in dairy expansion and we were very busy with that in the past but it has maxed itself out.”
Albrim is the archetypal one-stop shop for complete, convenient industrial and farm buildings solutions as they provide both fabrication and erection / construction services, which means they are in complete control in-house of the quality of all materials and workmanship from start to finish. Invariably, a top-quality, professional service is delivered including CE-certification, Risk Assessment and Method Statements, and full adherence to Health & Safety requirements.
The Coolrain based steel building fabrication and erection specialists also do up all their own in-house fabrication drawings.
Delivering every project on time, within budget and to the most exacting standards, Albrim’s ever-increasing list of regular clients includes O’Toole Compost in Ballon, Co. Carlow, Strawchip in Athy, Enrich Environmental in Summerhill, Co. Meath, Coolrain Sawmills in Derrynaseera, Co. Laois, Alpha Drives in Portlaoise, PJ Byrne Bespoke Joinery in Ballyadams, Co. Laois, Irish Rail in Portlaoise, Goff’s in Kill, Co. Kildare and Allwood Architectural Joinery in Ballymacken, Co. Laois.
Roy has a healthy order book in front of him and it’s onwards and upwards for this demand-driven family business, which currently employs twelve people directly as well as an extended team of subbies.
“The demand is there for a good product and that’s what we provide. A lot of our work is repeat business and that’s always encouraging. As we speak, we’re booked out until the third week in January.”
A nice position to be in, although having so much work in front of oneself might also bring some pressure? “As the saying goes, if you want something done, ask a busy man to do it!
“Farm buildings will always be an important part of the business,” Roy concludes. “We did a milking parlour for a famer in Borris-in-Ossory last year and he’s also going to be upgrading his existing parlour and adding a bespoke calf shed. We’re looking into that at the moment and I’d expect to book it in for next year – you’re always looking six months or so down the line.”
Albrim Ltd.,
Coolrain,
Portlaoise,
Co Laois.
Tel: 087 9874340
First published in Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 13 No 2, Autumn 2025
