Who We Are

McFadden Civils began operating in the late 1970s. Founder Desmond (Des) McFadden, who had been working with his father Francis (Frank) McFadden, a well-known agricultural contractor from their homeplace in Mountfield, Co. Tyrone, purchased his first digger in 1977. The business quickly developed a reputation for reliability.

Through the 1980s and 1990s, the company expanded steadily, taking on NI Water contracts, road-service works, industrial-estate developments, and major earth-moving projects. Between the late 70’s and 1990, the McFadden Civils team had grown from six to 60.

McFadden Civils was incorporated as a limited company in 1992, as the business and the country entered an era of unprecedented growth cross the construction sector.

The 2007–08 financial crisis tested the business severely, coinciding with the sale of its Mountfield headquarters falling through and major investments being made in a new Omagh site and in Scottish operations. During this period, Des’s sons Shane and Emmett McFadden joined the company, slowly learning the trade from the ground up before assuming leadership as company directors. They rebuilt, diversified, and modernised the family business, expanding partnerships with top-tier contractors and establishing a firm foothold in Scotland.

Today, McFadden Civils continues to grow sustainably, balancing subcontract and main contract work while maintaining family values and personal accountability at every level. The company is now looking to the fourth generation, with Shane’s daughter Cara McFadden, a Quantity Surveying undergraduate, already contributing to the business.

From GAA pitches in Tyrone and Donegal in the 1980s to watermains in Cork City, wind farms across Scotland, and large infrastructure schemes from Aberdeen to Sunderland Bridge today, McFadden Civils has delivered hundreds of projects across Ireland and the UK — spanning highways, utilities, industrial yards, public realm works, and energy developments of every scale and complexity.