Digital Solutions for Construction

Ireland’s International Construction Industry is increasingly being recognised for its wide array of digital innovations and technology solutions.

Complexity requires competence, and for advanced construction projects, Irish companies are showing they have this in breadth and depth. Whether it’s data centres, pharmaceutical facilities, high-tech manufacturing sites, or other advanced construction, Irish construction companies have proven they have the knowledge and capabilities to deal with these intricate projects worldwide.

The country is home to operations for 9 of the top 10 pharmaceutical companies and 9 of the top 10 US Technology companies. Just outside Dublin you’ll find one of the World’s largest integrated biotechnology plants, Europe’s largest collection of self-build hyperscale datacentres and Europe’s largest semiconductor fabrication campus.

John Hunt is Senior Advisor & Global Lead for Construction with Enterprise Ireland and says to understand why Irish companies are thriving in this area internationally, you need to look initially at what’s been done domestically. “Irish construction and engineering companies have built capability upon a strong foundation of lean and quality driven processes developed from decades of working on highly regulated and advanced process engineering projects.”

The Platform for Growth

John goes on to add that a well-defined process driven approach to design and delivery, often within a more collaborative form of contract, has also enabled rapid digitalisation and business resilience.

“Combined together, lean process, shared risk and technology have created a platform that delivers the certainty and productivity necessary to deliver multiple projects across multiple markets simultaneously. For me that has been a critical component of the sector’s international growth this past decade. More recently, 2019 was a record year for construction exports from Ireland and despite the restrictions imposed by the pandemic, the sector’s exports experienced double digit growth in both 2020 and 2021

“..2019 was a record year for construction exports from Ireland and despite the restrictions imposed by the pandemic, the sector’s exports experienced double digit growth in both 2020 and 2021.”

What’s more, Hunt is seeing that efficiencies continue to grow. “As well as delivering productivity and certainty, the capture of learnings from multiple sites are now digitally retained and worked into the next project design and delivery plan; a perpetual cycle of captured experiences that push these companies further and further up the learning curve.”

Integrating and Developing Technology

The adoption of better ways of working, particularly the digital processes and digital technologies that deal with the complexity of advanced construction, has been one of the enablers of the momentum in Irish companies’ growth. Traditional construction and engineering companies are linking with the tech start-ups and SMEs that are driving the sector forward, says John: “That’s very much where we’re seeing strong uptake both Internationally and domestically with Ireland’s technology providers that include the likes of Evercam, I3PT, Fexillon, EIDA, Strata, Gaga Muller and FlowForma.

Over the past decade, Enterprise Ireland has become recognised as one of the world’s most prolific investors in technology companies and are developing an exciting cluster of internationally focussed construction tech companies. John concludes: “The BIM Coordinators Summit presents a terrific opportunity to showcase some of the great work of the construction technology portfolio to a global audience. My colleagues from the US, led by Marissa Mannion and from the EU, led by Marie-Alix Derigny, Paris office, and me representing our UK offices very much look forward to welcoming an international delegation of guests to the Summit and to the Enterprise Ireland sponsored Business Lounge.”