Helmrig - Established in 1980
At Helmrig Ltd we are ambitious landscaping, tree and invasive weed specialists, committed to producing and maintaining high-quality and competitively priced solutions. Set up in 1980 by Philip Harrington, Helmrig Ltd remains a family business, managed by 3 Directors, with the support of the company founder. Our growing team has over 40 years of experience, providing qualified landscaping across North West England and our combined experience, reputation and network allows us to offer clients value beyond what may be considered “just contracting”.
Meet our team:
David Gallagher – Managing Director
Dave joined Helmrig as Managing Director in October 2020, taking over the reins from his Father-in-Law and company founder, Philip Harrington.
A former Army Officer (Royal Engineers), Dave has a varied background leading specialist teams in hands-on, “gritty” industries. After a 6 year military career, he joined Royal Mail and undertook a range of senior appointments during the transition from Government Department to FTSE 250 company, including time spent as a Regional Finance Director, Logistics Director and Operational Plant Manager. His more recent career has focussed on smaller, high growth enterprises: He was Commercial Director at another horticultural business - Envirocare (our closely related Grounds Maintenance specialists) in an Interim Capacity, before joining Recycling Lives Ltd, a rapidly growing, multi-site metal recycling business and social enterprise, where he led on Environmental and H&S matters on behalf of the owners and leadership team.
Dave holds a Masters degree in Civil Engineering (Imperial College, London), an MBA from Lancaster University Management School, WAMITAB Waste Management qualification and the NEBOSH General Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety.
Dave is proud to lead a family business with over 40 years of history. His style is engaging, analytical and down-to-earth and he loves the challenge of working with our clients and our highly knowledgeable teams to solve problems.
Sam Whittle - Operations Director
I have been in the Landscape industry for 40 years. The day after leaving school at 16 I started an apprenticeship in Horticulture and Landscaping, attending Hutton Agricultural College and then Myerscough College. I finished college with numerous horticultural qualifications covering soil science, landscape practice and design, including a National Certificate in Horticulture.
I initially joined Helmrig Ltd in the mid 1980s, at which point there was only 1 other employee and Phil Harrington, the MD. We worked out of a joiner’s yard in Preston, before moving to our current site at Dawson Lane. Deciding to further my education, I returned to Myerscough College to study Arboriculture, after which I used my knowledge to help others through becoming an instructor in Horticulture in the Prison service, working with the residents for 5 years.
I then started working with local authorities and housing associations, providing landscaping and treeworks, which led me to set up my own business. I subcontracted to Helmrig for 7 years before re-joining the team as Arboricultural Manager and have since progressed to my current position as Operations Manager. I have been with Helmrig for over 24 years. I'm very proud to have played a significant part in where the business is now and I am looking forward to growing the company further over the coming years.
Alongside my career I have also been in the reserve forces until 12 years ago; holding a position there for 23 years; working my way up through the ranks and gaining many skills and qualifications on the way. My final post before leaving was on the HQ training wing, training and supporting the new recruits.
Gary Andrews - Commercial Director – Knotweed Eradication
Having grown up in rural north Cumbria surrounded by agriculture it would be working on the farm or at one of the local auction marts that would have taken up most of my time outside of school. Having attended the local agricultural college upon leaving school I then came down to Lancashire to further my studies at Myerscough College doing the HND and finishing off with the BSc (Hons).
Having spent six years working at Myerscough (mainly within the sports turf department including four years as a lecturer) I worked for over nine years as an area sales manager for a herbicide supply company until 2015 when I came to work for Helmrig – Knotweed Eradication managing Knotweed operations on a variety of sites across the northwest. At the start of 2020 I took over the running of the Knotweed division and have lead the team since overseeing a period of sustained growth.
I married a Lancashire lass in 2006 and we have two sports-mad daughters that keen us on our toes. I’ve always been a keen sportsman having regularly played football and rugby up until 2020, now volunteer for a local junior football club coaching the youngest daughter’s football team as well as helping run the village bowling club as vice-chairman and over-seeing the grounds maintenance team.
We make your life easier with a single point of contact to project manage and execute your scheme. However large or small the job, we are here to help. Have a look through our recent projects to learn more about the quality and range of work we can support you with.
Our Values
Professionalism & Integrity
Doing the job right is important to us. We turn up when we say we will. We’re honest and straightforward to deal with. We deliver a high quality product.
We’re here to help
We’re here to help solve your horticultural problems. We are contractors, who get stuff done, but we have decades of experience and knowledge so we can also advise and help to solve your problems – we can project manage, help with design, recommend BNG solutions, recommend the best value option. We’re in your corner and we love a challenge. Give us a call.
We look after our people
Our teams work hard for a living. We want them to develop, learn, grow and progress in their careers and enjoy what they do. It’s good business to look after our people and it means they, in turn, look after our clients.
