The Ambassador of Ireland to Sweden, Barbara Jones, recently assumed her role in Stockholm.
An initial priority for Ambassador Jones was to form a delegation that would visit Irish businesses who contribute significantly to infrastructure in Sweden.
As part of the delegation, where the Embassy of Ireland to Sweden, officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs, and Enterprise Ireland Nordics visited Gävle, the final stop was the Nordic HQ of LPI Group, our Gävle Office.
Over the course of their visit, CEO, Paudi Reidy, presented an overview of the company including:
- Our resolute team of twenty-three Lightning Protection Technicians in Sweden.
- Our company growth in the region to date.
- LPI’s commitment to the Swedish market and infrastructure projects in the region.
- Projects LPI have competed in Gävle, Malmo, Luleå, Stockholm, and Katrineholm.
- An understanding into the nine live projects and pipeline of work in Sweden.
- Answering Ambassador Jones’ question of training and upskilling talent
Ambassador Hails “Phenomenal” Work of LPI Group
CEO Paudi Reidy and Construction Director, Shane Rohan, welcomed Ambassador Jones and her delegation as they arrived to our Gävle office through a section of our warehouse where there were approximately two-tonnes of cable delivered to install across our nine live Swedish projects.
On arrival, there was a brief explanation of what the cable is used for and how is it installed projects to form complex high-performance earthing systems.
Paudi Reidy Explains how the Cable is used to deliver our turnkey earthing and lightning protection solutions.
Insights into LPI Group Operations
The delegates then made their way upstairs to the board room where Paudi presented an Overview of LPI Group to Ambassador Jones.
Included in the presentation was a comprehensive overview of projects completed in Sweden to date as well as the pipeline of work and the 23 employees currently dedicated to delivering these projects in Sweden.
Paudi gives the delegation an overview of LPI’s turnkey earthing, lightning, and surge protection services.
One of these employees based full-time in Sweden, Keith Commons, gave the delegation an overview of his role on delivering high-performance earthing and lightning protection systems. “I have worked in Malmo, Luleå, Stockholm, and here in Gävle on our data centre projects overseeing and carrying out installation of lightning protection and earthing systems”, explained Keith.
Keith continued; “there’s great support back home from Paudi, Shane, and the team in supporting the delivery of these projects.”
Explaining Our Turnkey Services and the Importance of Accreditation
An interesting topic of discussion from the presentation was regarding the design and consultancy elements of our turnkey service.
Paudi explained to Ambassador Jones that;
“We provide comprehensive solutions to clients with soil resistivity studies, earthing studies, surge studies, coverage studies, and use software like CDEGS to give our clients the most detailed report and design available”.
Paudi continued; “we have certifications like UL, an American Standard whereby we can sign-off on the design of lightning protection systems of military bases. We achieved this UL certification during Covid where we saw an opportunity to upskill amid our non-mission-critical sites being closed. For example, we recently approved a lightning protection system on a military base in Estonia.”
“Simultaneously while achieving UL, we also worked hard on achieving Qualifoudre, a French lightning protection standard. Qualifoudre allows us to sign off lightning protection systems in France as well as enables us to design and install in the region where we are on site with two projects in Paris for InterXion”
“We have also been reaccredited ISO 9001 and gained ISO 45001 and ISO 14001 this year.”
Supporting Talent Development
Ambassador Jones was interested to learn how LPI train talent and retain talent.
Shane Rohan explained “We train our staff internally and get support from suppliers who visit our office to provide in-house training. We also visit suppliers wherever they in are in Europe to upskill our people to become lightning protection technicians and continuously learn new installation techniques involved with new products.”.
“LPI’s culture is driven by continuous learning and improvement. We believe we have a world-class team driving, for example, our design department where we have Iranian colleagues who have experience in Oil and Gas industries in Iran.
These lads (Mr. Hadi and Mr. Loni) have lectured, produced standards, and researched lightning protection and earthing in Iran. They have used their skills in contributing to LPI becoming the leading specialised contracting firm for lightning protection solutions in Europe.”
Strengthening Bilateral Ties
To end the hour-and-a-half-long engagement, Ambassador Jones expressed her sincere thanks to Paudi and the LPI team for the warm welcome and emphasised that the Embassy of Ireland to Sweden and Enterprise Ireland Nordics can both simultaneously support LPI’s continued growth in the region from a business and regulation standpoint. This goes towards supporting people on the ground at an embassy-level. This sentiment was echoed by Hannah Fraser, Director of Enterprise Ireland, Nordics Region.
The LPI Team then made the short journey to join Ambassador Jones’ evening reception where Paudi posed for pictures with Ambassador Jones, a fellow Wexford Native.
Paudi Poses with Ambassador Jones
The reception with Ambassador Jones also included members of our team networking with local businesses and local government ministers in Gävle. The LPI team also had a chance to catch up with fellow Irish partners working in the area including Kirby Group, Collen Construction’s Thomas O’Connor, Operations Director Nordics, and John Cunningham, MEP Commissioning Manager Nordics.
About LPI Group in Sweden and the Nordics
LPI Group has been delivering high-performance earthing, lightning, and surge protection systems in Sweden since 2019 and have delivered prestigious infrastructure projects in the region. In September 2022, we opened our Gävle office to further underpin our commitment to the Swedish mission-critical infrastructure market.
In the Nordics, LPI Group have active projects in Oslo, Copenhagen, and Helsinki on-site and in-design for Hyperscale and Colocation data centre providers collaborating with clients direct and leading Irish MEP contractors.
Speak to our technical engineering team to learn about our turnkey earthing, lightning, and surge protection solutions for your mission critical data centre, pharmaceutical, and battery plant project.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- An initial priority for Ambassador Jones was to form a delegation that would visit Irish businesses who contribute significantly to infrastructure in Sweden.
- The Ambassador was joined by members of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Enterprise Ireland Nordics.
- The delegation was welcomed to the LPI Group office by CEO Paudi Reidy, Construction Director, Shane Rohan, Lightning Protection Technician Keith Commons, and Marketing Manager, Luke Carroll.
- Ambassador Jones was given an overview of how the cable in the warehouse is used to deliver our high-performance turnkey lightning protection solutions by Paudi Reidy.
- Keith Commons gave Ambassador Jones an overview into his daily work as a Lightning Protection Technician working on earthing and lightning protection installations.
- Paudi and Shane gave the Ambassador and Delegation an overview of the Design and Consultancy services offered by LPI Group through early engagement.
- Ambassador Jones was given a summary of the awards and certifications LPI hold including our recent ISO certifications, UL, and Qualifoudre accreditations.
- Ambassador Jones concluded the meeting by thanking Paudi and the LPI team for the hospitality, presentation, and tour of the office. Mrs Jones also underpinned the commitment of the Embassy of Ireland in Sweden and Enterprise Ireland Nordics to continually support LPI Group’s growth in Sweden.
- LPI Group has been delivering high-performance earthing and lightning protection systems in Sweden since 2019.
Shane Rohan, Commercial Director 
Eoin Dineen, Operations Director
Theodora Dimova FFCA – Finance Director
Paudi Reidy is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Cofounder of LPI Group. As CEO, he leads the executive management team and is heavily involved in the overall success of the group across Europe. He directs the development and execution of short and long-term strategies, with the goal of increasing shareholder value. This year he has led the transformation of Lightning Protection Ireland and Lightning Protection International into the LPI Group, as the business continues to expand across the European market.
John Kinsella is the Managing Director and Cofounder of LPI Group. As Managing Director, he directs and controls the resources and operations of the business. John is responsible for the implementation of policies and procedures, to ensure LPI operates in compliance with ISO 9001 Quality Management Standards.