TRADE PROFILE
“I was always the man sent into meetings because if anyone had specialist questions to ask, I could answer them.”
Jimmy Hamilton, 93, shows off his ceremonial chain from his years as Irish Branch president of the Institute of Domestic Heating Engineers, which evolved into the RGI scheme.
L-R: Tony, Sean and Jimmy Hamilton.
office space at Park West. Jimmy remained active with Alliance Mechanical until recent years, working alongside Tony Barrett - who remains a director of the firm and rents its premises from Jimmy – on standout projects such as Tesco’s biggest store in Ireland, the 60,000sqft Liffey Valley branch opened in 2018. Up until its Ireland headquarters was scaled back in 2017, McDonald’s was a key client for P&T Hamilton Engineering, which fit out seven to eight new outlets a year together with refits of existing sites. Since then, Paul and Thomas have, however, picked up M&E contracts with many franchisees of the fast- food chain. “We’re a small family business,” says Paul. “My sister Helena looks after invoicing and paperwork, and my eldest brother John the accounts. We do mostly commercial work with Valeo Foods - one of our main contracts. We do all the maintenance and fit outs in their factories around Ireland.”
Paul left school at 15 to follow his father into the trade and has never once regretted the decision. “AI will take over a lot of jobs, but it won’t be able to do a lot of the plumbing or electrical work,” he says. “If you want to go into the trades, I think you should be encouraged to go in earlier.” Jimmy, who is now 93, only retired a few years ago but keeps up to date with the latest developments. He is a fan of underfloor heating but sceptical about installing heat pumps in properties without adequate insulation. He has nothing bad to say about his career. “It was a good life, and I enjoyed working in the industry,” says Jimmy. “The proof of the pudding is my two sons.”
“One of my tricks of the trade was to get to know the right people,” says Jimmy. “Everything I touched turned into gold.” A well-known trade figure, Jimmy dispensed advice on heating problems on The Gay Byrne Show radio programme and was a founding member and former president of the Institute of Domestic Heating Engineers Irish Branch, which evolved into the RGI scheme. P&T Hamilton Engineering When the 2008 financial crash put many builders out of business, creating debt for Hamilton & Fay, the business was dissolved. Jimmy turned his attention to Alliance Mechanical, and Paul and Thomas founded P&T Hamilton Engineering; two businesses which are operational to this day and share
P&T Hamilton Engineering Limited Unit 3, Parkwest Enterprise Centre, Nangor Road, Dublin 12 Want to know more?
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