EMOR – A history
The Early Years
Upon coming to London from Ireland in 1964, Eddie first found work as a camera runner in the Teddington film studios. He worked at all the studios around London and surrounding areas. He worked on such feature films as, ‘The Italian Job’, ‘Straw Dogs’, ‘Kes’ , and The Beatles ‘Help’. Then in 1971, the British film industry began to decline and Eddie sought out
a new life for him and his young family. In late 1971 Eddie headed to the USA to start on what he hoped to be a new life in construction. His first stop was New York City. He found work with Chrysler Borg Floorman, who at the time was one of the biggest construction companies in New York. He worked with them for eight months on such high profile projects that included the refurbishment of the UN Headquarters on the East side of Manhattan, the refurbishment of St Patricks Cathedral on fifth Avenue and the construction of the ill fated south tower of World Trade Centre in Lower Manhattan. Then in 1972, Eddie’s father, Eugene passed away in Ireland. At the time of the funeral the construction industry in New York was a standstill because of crippling strike. He gave up on ‘The American Dream’ and decided to stay in London and build on what he learnt in New York. E O’Reilly Groundworks 1972-2005
Upon starting E O’Reilly Groundworks, Eddie undertook projects of various sizes all around London and the Home Counties. The first Main Contractor he worked with was Gosling Builders Ltd and worked with them up until 1997 on a lot of projects that included the new basement vaults in Kensington Palace, The Maritime Museum in Greenwich, The Prince of Wales Conservatory in Kew Gardens and Police Dog Training Centre at Ember Court in Merton. He also won contracts at the RAF airbases at Northwood, Northolt and Uxbridge with TRY Build. In 2003 he won his first contract as a main contractor on a new house build on Home Park Road in Wimbledon. EMOR Groundworks Ltd 2004 onwards
Things were starting to take their toll on Eddie who had been running things virtually single handed for 31 years. He asked his two sons Martin and Edward, whom were both working for him at E O’Reilly Groundworks, to become more involved with the running of the company which they were more than happy to do. They decided though to change the name so it incorporated all of them rather than just Eddie. Their choice was EMOR (Edward and Martin O’Reilly) Groundworks Ltd. On the 27th February 2004, EMOR Groundworks Ltd was born.
