Big Laois business launches product to speed up Irish house building that's made in Portlaoise

A Laois steel company has officially launched its "breakthrough product" designed to speed up the delivery of new Irish houses.

Midland Steel, based in Mountmellick recently opened a vast new plant in J17 National Enterprise Park in Portlaoise to produce its unique FasterFix Ready Mesh, doubling its workforce to about 140 employees.

A leading Irish force in steel reinforcement innovation, the Laois company has this week formally launched the product.

FasterFix is a pre-engineered, site ready, reinforcement system designed in line with the Government’s Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) initiative.

With government targets of more than 50,000 homes per year to be delivered by 2030, FasterFix Ready Mesh is expected to play a vital role in delivering faster and more efficient builds.

Midland Steel recently won the Outstanding Large Business at the Laois Business Awards. 

The rebar mesh arrives on site fully prepared and custom-designed to each project, significantly cutting programme times, reducing waste, and streamlining the building process. 

The company lists its many benefits. The ready-to-place units reduce installation time and labour costs. With no cutting or hot works, it improves site safety and compliance. Zero site waste enhances sustainability and reduces costs. The lightweight panels ensure safer manual handling. It can be custom sized to each house type, and it is manufactured using CARES-approved, low-carbon steel.

Tony Woods is the CEO of Midland Steel.

“Our FasterFix Ready Mesh is a perfect example of Modern Methods of Construction. It’s efficient, sustainable, and built for performance. We believe it can be a game-changer for house building in Ireland.”

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Founded in Mountmellick, Midland Steel has grown into a leading international provider of steel reinforcement solutions, with operations across Ireland, the UK and mainland Europe. It is renowned for its commitment to innovation, quality and sustainability and continues to shape the future of construction by delivering smarter, safer and more efficient reinforcements systems.

 It recently announced a partnership with the biggest steel producer in the United States.

Midland Steel’s products have been used in the construction of numerous major projects including Aviva Stadium, Amazon data centres in Dublin and Intel in Leixlip.