Archaeology firm rebrands to pursue ambitious growth plans in Britain

HEADLAND Archaeology (Ireland) Ltd in Cork is rebranding as Rubicon Heritage Services and opening new offices in England and Scotland as part of ambitious growth plans, following a management buyout.

Having seen its domestic business hit by cutbacks to Ireland’s National Development Plan, Rubicon’s owners have opened new offices in Edinburgh and Tavistock, Devon.

The move is intended to protect the 20 jobs at the company’s base in Little Island, Cork, with further cross-channel roles anticipated.

The company will retain all of its permanent staff and has just recruited an additional 15 temporary archaeologists to cope with a significant increase in new contracts.

At its height in 2007, the company recorded a turnover of €10m. Its gross profit for the year to end May 2010 was a little over €1m. Overall, the archaeology market in Britain is worth £60m (€70m).

As part of its expansion, Rubicon expanded its ownership. The company’s shareholders now include Colm Moloney, Damian Shiels, Ross Macleod and Louise Baker.

Rubicon director Colm Moloney said: “Things have slowed down in Ireland. The amount of archaeology work is based on the NDP, which has been hammered here, so we are taking control of our own destiny by expanding into the UK.”

Rubicon has already worked on projects in Cork, Dublin, Galway, Belfast, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen. It is currently running field projects in counties Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary, Sligo, Galway, Dublin and Louth.

The company is in the final stages of production of eight books on projects undertaken over the last few years.