Gannon Dunkerley & Company

Gannon Dunkerley & Company Limited (GDCL) is a civil engineering construction company based in New Delhi, India.^[1]

History

Mr. Henry Gannon and Mr. J.H. Dunkerley who were in business in India from 1895, joined together in 1918 to form Gannon Dunkerley & Co., In 1924, it was incorporated as a Private Limited Company and the change in management to Indian hands took place in 1946. It was converted into a Public Limited Company in 1948. Originally, the Company's activities were mainly in trading. Gradually Gannon’s diversified into Civil Engineering in the early thirties. Several bridges in South India including R.C.C. Bowstring girder bridges with own in-house design were constructed by this Company, as also aqueducts, civil engineering works for irrigation and hydro-electric projects, water works and factory buildings. The first ghat road to Tirupathi Hill was also constructed by this Company. During the Second World War, the Company built several air fields and runways on emergency basis completing all in a very short period. The Company pioneered in pre-cast R.C.C. construction in the early 1940s. When the concept of pre-stressed concrete came into vogue, Gannon Dunkerley was one of the earliest in India to adopt and translate this into practice. In the mid 1950’s, the Company designed and constructed several pre-stressed concrete bridges, including the first in the Western Railways and Central Railways zones. From 1950 onwards, Civil Engineering constructions became the main thrust in the business of the Company. During this period, it constructed several prestigious buildings and completed other projects. From seventies, the main thrust went to industrial projects. Gannon started its Mechanical Engineering Division in the mid fifties to undertake fabrication, erection of structural steel work, piping, as also erection of equipment for various industrial projects and successfully executed a number of such projects. Going forward, the Company diversified into Water & Effluent Treatment in mid seventies. Considering modernization of Indian Railways, it established a Pre-stressed Concrete Sleeper Plant in 1990 at Rayagada (Orissa). At the beginning of 21st century, the Company re-entered the Infrastructure Sector, taking up a number of projects for construction of Highways, Railways, Bridges and Flyovers. In line with its policy, the Company has diversified into Real Estate sector in 2007.

Mission & Vision

Gannon Dunkerley & Co., Ltd. is a Construction Company undertaking construction of Engineering projects for both public and Private sector clients. Indian economy like Chinese economy is a rapidly growing economy of the world with an annual growth rate of 8% to 10%. This calls for rapid development in both infrastructure and industrial fields. To cater for infrastructure development of Roads & Highways, Railways, Airports, etc., all need to be modernized and expanded to take care of additional volume of traffic. Similarly, in industrial field, urgent setting up of new Power Plants, Refineries, Steel and non-Ferrous Metal Plants, Cement Plants etc. in a large scale is required to meet the growth of industries and nation’s aspirations. Gannon Dunkerley & Co., Ltd., therefore, wants to lend its best contribution in these fields Civil Engineering of Nation Building. With growing population and industrialization, Environment has also assumed a special signification. Water Treatment Division of the company is playing its role in undertaking major environmental construction projects such as Water and Effluent Treatment Plants. Though Gannon is mainly a Civil Engineering construction Company, its Mechanical & Electrical Engineering Division is also Simultaneously growing to undertake major fabrication and erection of structural steel work, piping, erection of equipment, etc. in various industrial projects. The Company has also modernized its shuttering such as slip form shuttering and scaffolding systems. It has procured the latest survey instruments like Total Stations. During the period 2003-08, the Company’s turnover has grown six times.

Criticism

Safety Concerns
A chimney under construction by Gannon Dunkerley & Company at the Balco smelter in Korba, Chhattisgarh collapsed on September 23, 2009 killing at least 45 workers^[2] . Balco and GDCL management have been accused of negligence in the incident.

Board of directors

References

1. ^ http://www.gannondunkerley.com/news1.htm
2. ^ http://in.news.yahoo.com/43/20090924/812/tnl-balco-chimney-crash-deaths-climb-to.html