Scania the truck of choice at Ward & Burke
02/03/2026
The transportation wing of Ward & Burke Construction Ltd. operates a magnificent, fresh fleet of immaculate trucks and trailers across Ireland and the UK, with Scania very much the marque of choice. Irish Trucker touched base with transport manager Enda Hopkins to find out more about these fantastic lorries.
Enda Hopkins has been transport manager at Ward & Burke for 22 years now, during which time the transportation department has gone from strength to strength, growing hand in hand with the company itself. As well as servicing all of their own in-house low loader and heavy haulage needs, the fleet also takes on some outside haulage for third parties.
“We do a small bit of third-party work,” Enda confirms. “When we do work in the UK, for example, sometimes for the backloads we take back machinery or tractors, etc. for other people. Once you’ve built up a bit of a customer base, you’d get some work from them at home, too, but the vast majority of what we do is for Ward & Burke themselves.”
A glance at the spectacular Ward & Burke truck fleet quickly reveals that it is made up exclusively of Scania. The main artic fleet comprises six Scania 770s – a brand-new 2025 unit as well as a ’24 reg, two 23-reges and a couple of 2022s. There’s also a new 770S V8 rigid with HIAB crane and drag trailer, as well as a 2016 Scania 730 and a ’23-reg 520 V8 with HIAB, soon to be joined by a brand-new 18-tonne P260.
Regarding the clear preference for Scania, Enda notes: “Scania was always the first choice around here and I have stuck with them. They are an unbelievable truck and they give a great service, with a lot of Scania garages around. The drivers like them too, and that’s important.
“In low loader / heavy haulage work, which is what we are at, they need a good reliable truck and you can’t get better than Scania. We’ve always got a brilliant service off Scania, and I should add that Joe Mooney at Ashbourne Truck Centre also really looks after us, supplying top-class Faymonville low loaders and a service to match.”
Enda is enjoying his work as transport manager at an industry-leading construction engineering company and is being kept busy. “We’ve a nice fresh fleet, which is kept in good condition, and we’ve very busy. There’s always plenty of work there.”
While the transport side of the business might by relatively small, it is vitally important:
“Overall, the company employs more than 1,300 people and, between admin and drivers, there are 13 or 14 of us in the transport side,” Enda notes. “We try to keep the fleet fresh and we try to replace them every five years.
“At the end of the day, you have to try to be as competitive with it all as you possibly can be. Haulage is a very tight market now so it’s all about doing whatever it takes to give the best service we can. That boils down to having good equipment and good people to operate it and look after it.”
Specialists in civil engineering construction, Ward & Burke Construction Ltd. currently delivers class leading, reliable and cost effective construction solutions, specialising in bespoke design and quality construction of water and wastewater infrastructure, including treatment processes, pumping and storage solutions.
Ward & Burke was formed in 2001 and is an engineering organisation delivering and operating infrastructure, primarily sanitary services infrastructure, on a turnkey design, build and operate basis. Engineering disciplines encompass: civil, structural, mechanical, electrical, environmental, process, automation and control.
The company is at the forefront of the industry when it comes to integrating climate proof technology and energy excellence in all operations. As such, they have committed to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) Net-Zero Standard, establishing a robust emissions reduction target that aligns with the pace and scale mandated by climate science.
Ward & Burke has enjoyed rapid growth and development in a wide variety of construction disciplines, realising a turnover of €410m in 2022. Ward & Burke’s highly skilled, self-motivated and dedicated people possess vast experience across a broad range of construction activity.
Micro-managing construction projects in terms of design alternatives, construction method and programming has been fundamental to ensuring client satisfaction and company success.
Ward & Burke provide a full range of temporary / permanent works and construction engineering services across multiple sectors (including water; wastewater; road and bridge; marine and coastal; energy, infrastructure and waste management facilities; and urban regeneration), focusing on the development of safe, considered and innovative solutions to the most challenging problems encountered in the construction of projects.
The sleek new Arklow Wastewater Treatment Plant was completed on budget and six months ahead of schedule on behalf of Uisce Eireann, eliminating the discharge of raw sewage into the Avoca River. The project entailed the design, build and operate of a new wastewater treatment works (of up to 36,000 PE) and associated infrastructure to treat wastewater from the town of Arklow.
Completed on behalf of Cork City Council, the Passage Railway Greenway Improvement Scheme is located to the east of the Cork City and provides an off-road link for pedestrians and cyclists to connect from Marina Road to where the existing greenway crosses over the N40 via an overbridge.
Mobilised island-wide, the team at Ward & Burke pride themselves on working seamlessly with all project stakeholders, ensuring no solution is developed in isolation and without consideration of the potential implications on other areas of the project.
Combined with an extensive and wholly owned plant division, this ensures direct control, greater flexibility, and above all improved quality and safety of construction projects.
Whatever the project undertaken, the Ward & Bucke engineering experts apply their insight, innovation, professionalism and personal hands-on attention to every aspect of the project – from its inception to its successful completion.
Ward & Burke Construction Limited,
Stradbally East,
Kilcolgan,
County Galway.
Tel: 091 340100
Email: [email protected]
Web: wardandburke.com
First published in Irish Trucker magazine January/February 2026, Vol 29-1
