IE Interiors Newsletter : Apr 2022

We’ve got News Ardmac Fit-out & Refurbishment Solutions Quarterly Newsletter Apr 2022

Hello from Ardmac,

Welcome to our quarterly newsletter, where we will keep you up to date with current developments and innovations within our Interior Fit-Out Division. Firstly, introducing Eamon McGoldrick. Eamon is one of our Contracts Managers within Ardmac Interiors and has worked for us for forty – yes forty – years! We go on to showcase our fantastic recently completed projects: Hilton Hotel Kilmainham and HSBC One Canal Square.

Chat to Lisa Jennings Business Development & Bid Manager lisa.jennings@ardmac.com T: +353 (0)86 046 7968

It was a successful night for team Ardmac at the Irish Construction Industry Awards.

This month our feature focus is on Women in Construction and the importance of and the need to employ more women for a sustainable future. Finally we hope you enjoy reading this issue and if there is anything you’d like to see in future issues, please let us know.

04 MEET EAMON MCGOLDRICK

06 CASE STUDY: HILTON HOTEL KILMAINHAM

10 AND THE AWARD GOES TO...

12 CASE STUDY: HSBC, GRAND CANAL SQUARE

16 WOMEN IN CONSTRUCTION

18 WOMEN IN STEM

22 LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME

Eamon McGoldrick is one of Ardmac’s Contracts Managers for the Fitout division and has worked with us for forty – yes forty – years! Eamon is an invaluable asset to Ardmac. His incredible length of service started off with him “serving time” as a carpenter and gradually progressing to become a contracts manager, which he has been excelling at for twenty years now. Known for his open and honest nature, Eamon has worked on some really tricky projects for Ardmac including Tallaght Cross West, Dunnes St Stephen’s Green, Ulster Bank Georges Quay and the Royal College of Surgeons. Eamon appreciates the importance of listening and responding to the needs of his clients, consistently exceeding their expectations. He spends roughly 80-90% of his week onsite, where his role includes liaising with the design team, organising site managers and project managers, looking after variations, and making sure everything gets tracked and reported on. We asked Eamon what he enjoyed most about working at Ardmac and he had this to say: “I get huge satisfaction from the challenge of pulling a team together and then physically delivering a project from start to finish. I love the sense of pride I get when I look back and see what we have accomplished.” He continues,“I enjoy working with the team, getting to know everyone, the camaraderie between us, it’s a great variety and you always learn something from every job.”

MEET Eamon McGoldrick

CONTRACTS MANAGER

Eamon has literally grown up with Ardmac and has seen monumental change over the years from being a small handful of people to an international organisation with multiple sites and a turnover of over €200 million. But at the heart of it Eamon says that the business has always had the exact same ethos. “Ardmac have always looked after people. It’s a very open company, if you have an issue, you ask for help and they will always help you.” Over 40 years, Eamon has not only seen how Ardmac has changed as a company, but also how the industry has changed. In particular with reference to health and safety, he believes that Ardmac are one of the first in the industry to fully embrace ‘Safety First’ in everything they do and the rest of the industry has slowly followed suit. He recalls the beginning of his career when people on site didn’t wear PPE, glasses, boots etc but thankfully that is no longer the case.

Another industry change Eamon has seen, and potentially not for the better, is the reduction in the number of tradesmen and apprentices. The industry needs to address the gap that exists with labour workers. The CIF confirmed that 86% of Ireland’s building companies have an inadequate supply of qualified tradespeople. Given the growth of the construction industry and future plans, significant investment in the education, training and apprenticeship system is required to move forward. At Ardmac we believe in having a positive culture that supports our employees and their families. We want our people to enjoy what they do for us, like Eamon does. Only then can we ensure a strong work ethic, with open lines of communication that breeds a culture of safety and productivity.

featured case study: Hilton Hotel Kilmainham

The Hilton Hotel Kilmainham, a 4 star Hilton Hotel overlooking the Kilmainham Gaol Museum, was in need of additional bedrooms therefore Hilton decided to convert some of their meeting space and offices into bedrooms, making the Hotel into a 130 bedroom offering. Ardmac were appointed to refurbish & reconfigure the existing meeting rooms, back of house and reception to provide 10 additional bedrooms which included 1 accessible bedroom. The works also involved the relocation of comms room, luggage store and reconfiguration of back of house office at ground floor level along with the reconfiguration of 1 no existing meeting into two offices at basement level.

Scope included the strip out of existing finishes and furniture, demolition of walls and doors along with M&E alterations to include new servicing to each of the bedrooms service cores extended down from the first floor. The new stylish contemporary bedrooms were fitted out with new ceilings, floors, wall finishes, lighting, bespoke joinery and furniture. To cater for natural light into the new bedrooms the spandrel panels on the elevation were rearranged along South Circular Road. The main reception area was reduced in area with work involving the relocation of the reception desk area, construction of the new luggage store and comms room along with back of house office, works to the existing level ramp including new balustrade and a refresh to all existing finishes.

The Hotel remained operational throughout the works; therefore, phasing was required to ensure continuity was maintained for the Hotel. At no time was access to the Hotel to be blocked or restricted in any way. This was managed stringently by the Ardmac Site Management Team, who communicated daily upcoming works to Hotel Management. Due to the front of house nature of some of the works, some of the works were completed out of hours and at off peak times to ensure minimum inconvenience to the staff and customers using the Hotel, these works were discussed in detail with Hotel Management before being carried out. At the end of each working day adjacent areas were deeply cleaned and tidied so the Hotel was respectable at all times. All access routes and fire exit routes remained clear and unobstructed throughout the programme so as not to disrupt or disturb the normal usage of these surrounding properties. As the works were completed during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, all measures required by the Government were implemented including temperature checking, staggered start & finish times, staggered break times, encouragement of hand hygiene and appropriate PPE and facemasks. Planning of the works within small areas were managed through the use of Last Planner in terms of densities and zones, it also created an open forum with the Supply Chain to discuss any constraints felt through re-planning of the works to reduce transmission of COVID-19.

Client:

Thornmont Limited Kilmainham, Dublin 8

Location: Duration: Contractor:

25 Weeks Ardmac

Client: Thornmont Limited Architects & QS: Consarc Design Group Services: Caldwell Consulting

“The works programme for the project was particularly ambitious and involved working in a ‘live’ hotel environment. The Ardmac onsite team engaged with the hotel team to mitigate the impact of the project works on guests of the property. Although the project was not particularly large it had a high degree of complexity and there were on numerous unforeseen challenges encountered on site that required urgent design solutions to maintain the project programme. The Ardmac team were always flexible, and proactively managed and engaged constructively with the design team to address unforeseen issues that arose, and routinely offered expert construction input. It was also evident during the project works that Ardmac had built strong relationships with their subcontractors and supply chain. Project quality was a key stakeholder deliverable requirement and the team at Ardmac remained focused on this deliverable right throughout the project.”

David Monks, Project Manager

and the award goes to....

It was a successful night for team Ardmac at the Irish Construction Industry Awards.

We won the COVID-19 Crisis Response Award and the Excellence in Health and Safety Award.

At Ardmac, safety first and always is foremost in our thinking. For everyone around us, in everything we do and wherever we impact. It is fantastic to see our people’s dedication to safety be recognised, well done to all. Ardmac would like to congratulate our HR Team who won the Champion Use of Innovation Technology Award at the 2022 Irish HR Champions Awards. The interiors team look forward to returning to awards scene in 2022 and getting to see fellow finalists in person!

featured case study: HSBC, One Grand Canal Square

HSBC were looking for a working partnership to assist them in consolidating staff from two floors into one, following the lease of the second floor coming to an end. The first floor was reconfigured to accommodate staff based on the future of work principles. This included the introduction of collaboration spaces as well as segregated offices for private functions/ teams within the space. Ardmac were appointed following Stage 1 of a two-stage tender. Our experience both with HSBC and the building along with our ‘no surprises’ approach throughout stage one assured our client of a go-to partner for their project. During Stage 2, Ardmac appointed DMOD Architects and METEC to assist in designing HSBC’s vision for the new space.

The front of house area was reconfigured to enable more future flexibility as well as making the most of spaces whilst not in use for traditional meetings. The atrium’s new layout was designed in such a way to encourage use throughout the day and not just at peak times, with new furniture installed to accommodate both meeting and eating facilities. The existing catering kitchen was changed to emphasise more on self service with improved microwave station and food preparation areas. Pods were also installed on the balcony area to encourage meetings and more use of this space. The back-office space had limited change in terms of reconfiguration, but spaces created to form new settings to suit the business requirement. The existing Hub room was changed to the main Comms room with some minor alterations. All meeting rooms were retained but with new finishes throughout.

Works consisted of strip out and demolitions, relation of floor boxes, installation of all new fan coil units, reinstatement of electrical supply to serve all office spaces, new ceilings throughout, all new finishes, special featured baffled ceiling system, installation of multiple new walls, upgraded fire regulated curtains and dampers, relocation of waste and water for new kitchette locations, fire alarm modifications, BMS works along with testing and commissioning The building is a multi-tenanted office, 4-storey standalone building with a basement and central full height atrium. As the other floors were occupied by Citadel, Accenture and Bank of Ireland works had to be stringently managed so as to not cause inconvenience. The Site Management Team communicated on a daily basis with Building Management of upcoming works and access/egress requirements. The programme was fast-tracked and delivered during unprecedented times as a result of the pandemic, resources were made available to ensure to maintain programme, whilst also communication of financial risks to the HSBC Cost Management Team.

Client:

HSBC Bank plc Dublin Docklands 20,000 Sq. Ft

Location: Project Size: Duration: Contractor:

18 weeks Ardmac

Cost Consultant: KSN Architect: METEC Project Manager: Arcadis DMOD Services:

“When HSBC tendered this project, they had always stated that they were looking for a partner to deliver. Ardmac lived up to this expectation and became a critical partner to us on the fit- out works. The team of project managers, supervisors, and their support teams were invaluable in delivering a successful project on time and within budget. The team we had were dedicated, professional, always responsive, hardworking, and most importantly, they applied the highest standards in communication at all times. Our team as well as our Client’s leadership is extremely pleased with the final result and would highly recommend Ardmac for future services.”

Neil Cronin, Senior Project Manager

THE IRISH CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY NEEDS TO EMPLOY MORE WOMEN IF IT IS TO HAVE A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE.

Construction is a fast paced industry and full of opportunities for creativity and growth for all. The industry focuses on teamwork, creativity and in many instances, international opportunities, this can provide varied career progression and personal growth. Employee retention has challenged companies to look at flexible ways of working and take on board feedback from employees on how personal agendas at all levels can be supported – this in turn can help attract women into our industry by supporting the work life balance that many women seek.

Women starting off their careers in engineering, design, QS or architecture should want to join a company where there are opportunities for growth, investment in people development and an opportunity to work with different cultures and sectors – construction provides all of these opportunities.

Ardmac will continue to work to break the bias and support our female professionals.

women in STEM Michael Quinn Director of Engineering

As part of their guidelines for the 2018 employment policies of the Member States, the council of the European Union determined that all Union members should work to ensure gender equality and increased labour market participation by women. CSO figures indicate that the construction industry in Ireland currently has the highest number of women working in the industry on record, with the figure increasing by 25% in 2021 to a total of 14,400. Despite this, women still only make up approximately 9% of the overall construction workforce in the country. The figures specific to Women in STEM in Ireland make for slightly better reading, with the CSO reporting 25% of jobs that require STEM skills are currently occupied by women. However, with only 1 in every 6 engineering graduates being female the likelihood is that the figure for Women in Construction related STEM roles is much lower.

Given the career opportunities available, the impact made by the industry worldwide and the innovation happening on an ongoing basis, this no longer makes sense. Along with current global supply chain issues, the shortage of personnel is seen as the greatest challenge facing the construction industry in Ireland. Over the coming years, this is likely to be the single biggest barrier to achieving Government targets for house building, the current National Development Plan and continuing to support the growth of multi-national companies in Ireland. Over the past 20 years, I have seen the construction industry undergo significant advancement in terms of health and safet harder’ philosophy being adopted. At Ardmac, we “Work Smart”, meaning we deploy innovative technology throughout our business to empower our people, drive performance and delight our customers. To support this advancement, the types of roles within the construction industry have had to evolve with multiple new technology-based roles emerging and the level of physically demanding roles reducing. This is especially true in the high-tech sectors in which Ardmac operate. As a leading provider of complex turn-key solutions to the cleanroom and data centre sectors, our business is engineering led. We aim to employ the brightest and the best for all disciplines within the company, regardless of demographics, to ensure we continue to provide Excellence as Standard to our Clients.

Over 70% of construction firms are said to fully recognise the need for more women in the industry. It is also clear that there is a huge shortage in construction personnel and that there are more diverse and well-paid roles available within the industry. Despite all this, the uptake of construction sector roles by women remains low. A significant amount of good work has been undertaken over the past few years by organisations such as the CIF and Engineers Ireland to promote the industry as inclusive and diverse, but the sector still remains one of the most gender-segregated in the world. The reason for this appears to be down to the perception of the industry that still exists. As part of a 2018 survey carried out by the CIF for their #BuildingEquality campaign it was suggested that the Construction Industry had an image problem. One of the comments received relating to this was as follows: “I think many women when they think of the construction industry think or hard hats, cold weather, dirty building sites and a lot of physical labour. Add to that a perception that it is male oriented, and you can see why it may not be viewed as an attractive career for a woman.” (Senior female professional) As part of Engineer’s Ireland STEPS programme for Engineering Week, I recently gave a presentation to approximately 100 female transition year students on engineering as a career. When I asked the group what their impression of the construction industry and engineering as a career was, much of the initial feedback I received was in line with the above quote.

When I asked the group what their impression of the construction industry and engineering as a career was, much of the initial feedback I received was in line with the above quote. Whilst us within the industry know that careers in construction have changed considerably, becoming more flexible, more technology driven, safer and less physically demanding, there is still much work to do in getting this message across to the wider population. Key factors encouraging men into the industry include culture, representation, confidence and opportunity and we need to establish these more strongly for women now.

At Ardmac, we are working hard to implement the following actions to encourage more women into Engineering and Construction, and we encourage all members to do the same – 01. All roles within the construction industry should be and need to be open to women. The key is ensuring that this message is clearly communicated and that the actions of the industry demonstrate this to be true. We need to ensure recruitment campaigns are described and advertised in such a way as to attract a diverse group of applicants.

02. We need to ensure young women have the same opportunity and exposure to careers in the sector. From a young age, men see family members, contacts and connections working in the industry. It has been socially acceptable in society for generations for men to see construction as a viable long-term career. They also benefit from being offered subjects at school which provide insights into the work involved and building confidence in their abilities to do the work and find it rewarding. Career offices promote engineering to young men, meaning key elements of the funnel channelling young men into the industry exist as standard. We need to do the same for young women. 03. We need to normalise STEM careers for men and women starting at primary school. This includes representation, experience of the work, understanding the impact of the work and training /experience of the type of work involved. We need to continue to work with careers offices within schools to promote the opportunities available and put forward the women and men of our industry who have forged successful careers. 04. We need to promote the value and impact of the construction industry. We need to make sure we are conveying the right message to women in promoting these roles. The industry needs to focus on recruitment campaigns that present the vision of the industry and its impact on people and their quality of life. Communicating the contribution that construction projects make

to people’s lives and the challenging and fulfilling roles available in the industry will help to attract the right calibre of people. Employees at Ardmac are lucky to experience this on an on-going basis as we contribute to the delivery of exciting and innovative projects in the life sciences sector, from mobile micro-vaccine production facilities to large scale drug manufacturing facilities. A career in the construction industry can take you all over the world and present you with the opportunity to be involved in hugely rewarding projects where, regardless of demographics, you can make a significant contribution to the project and society itself.

Our Director of Engineering, Michael Quinn is visiting schools this year, along with Catherine Greene, to showcase what a varied career construction can offer and highlight that all roles are open to our young girls. The aim of our school tours and visits is to promote construction and engineering to young people, especially girls. There is a male dominated industry bias and we want to show young students that a career in construction is open to everyone. We hope that young girls are encouraged to take on STEM subjects early on and in turn build our future.

Leadership development course

On January 24th, Ardmac in conjunction with Trinity Business School launched their second leadership development programme. Forty-three employees from across the Ardmac business came together for the five module programme. The programme is an investment in the current and future leaders of Ardmac which will explore effective business management and delivery skills. Participants will take time to understand leadership from many aspects and to consider their individual leadership styles. Emphasis is also being given to the importance of emotional intelligence and mindfulness in challenging times. It is a great opportunity to learn in an off site environment and to meet with and hear from some great thought leaders from the Trinity Business faculty. The added bonus is it also gives the participants the opportunity to meet and network face to face with colleagues across the business, with many of our European and UK employees travelling to Trinity for the programme. After two years of a pandemic and a lot of remote working it was great to have the opportunity to meet colleagues in a “non virtual” setting.

Ardmac Dublin Swords Business Campus, Swords, Co. Dublin, K67 D8H0, Ireland. E: info@ardmac.com T: +353 (0) 1 894 8800

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