Irish Construction News February March 2022

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Februar y/March 2022

Building a zero-carbon construction sector MMC Matters

- Bringing building off site 1

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Building for All • Clúid Housing • Dr Nael Bunni • King & Moffatt March 2022

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11 NEWS

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AECOM predicts construction output to hit €32bn in 2022 Three quarters of LDA housing output will be cost rental units Statutory CIRI registration for builders to commence by early 2024 Civil engineering body calls on all infrastructure stakeholders to collaborate to reduce emissions Cork main drainage project awarded Engineering Endeavour of 2021 JJ Rhatigan & Company makes two senior appointments Grafton Architects selected as one of five finalists for the European Architecture Award 2022 Retrofitting programme will require 17,000 workers PJ Rudden appointed to Project Ireland 2040 Delivery Board Cairn Homes had its highest new home sales to date in second half of 2021 Glenveagh revenues rose 64% in 2021 Revised PII guidelines aim to ensure competent contractors and consultants not excluded from public works contracts Labour Court recommended new pay rates for the electrical sector

MAIN FEATURE

16 Shaping the future for offsite construction in Ireland – Martin Searson, co-author of CIF report ‘Modern Methods of Constructions’ discusses the future of the sector.

INTERVIEW 16 MAIN FEATURE

22 “Cost rental homes will provide secure and affordable housing into the future – Brian O’Gorman, CEO, Cluid Housing 26 Arbitration will always be better than confrontation – Dr Nael Bunni

SECTOR FOCUS

29 Addressing staffing challenges in the construction sector – Liz Carroll, Construction Professionals Skillnet 32 Visibility – The missing tool in construction’s big data toolbox – Tom Noctor, Procore Technologies 38 Leading through innovation – King & Moffatt

ANALYSIS

42 Housing for All: What land will be available and what type of projects will get built – Aoife Brennan, Director, Research & Consultancy, Lisney

OPINION

22 INTERVIEW

36 The perils of beginning work without agreeing the precise basis upon which it is to be done – Henry Hathaway 49 “Arbitration is a formidable arena for final and binding resoulution and should never be misunderstood as some kind of step before litigation” – John FFF O’Brien

SUSTAINABILITY

52 Construction and built environment emissions must be addressed together to achieve carbon neutrality – Marion Jammet, Head of Policy and Advocacy, IGBC 54 Irish construction has the potential to be a sustainability pioneer – Oonagh Reid, #BuildingLife Ambassador and Director, Arup 57 Healthy Homes Ireland forum aims to advance greener healthier homes 58 ACEI launches Pledge to Net Zero 58 SEAI supported 11,000 home energy audits in 2021

42 ANALYSIS

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES 58 All the latest products and services news

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E D I TO R I A L

From the editor PUBLISHER Foundation Media Ltd 1 Northumberland Place, Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin.

Tel: +353 (0)1 677 3157 EDITOR Robbie Cousins robbie@foundationmedia.ie DESIGN Joanne Birmingham CONTRIBUTORS Barry McCall, Mimi Murray, Aoife Brennan, Liz Carroll, Henry Hathaway, John O’Brien, Marion Jammet PRINTER WG Baird Ltd ADVERTISING SALES Joe Connolly joe@foundationmedai.ie Tel: +353 (0)86 396 6158 ADVERTISING AND PROMOTIONAL OPPORTUNITIES To advertise in Irish Construction News or on www.constructionnews.ie, or to request a ratecard or details of promotional opportunities, contact Joe Connolly at joe@foundationmedia.ie CONNECT WITH US ON SOCIAL MEDIA Twitter: @constructionnews.ie Linkedin: Constructionnews.ie Facebook: Constructionnews.ie SIGN UP FOR OUR E-NEWSLETTER To get the latest news, articles and offers related to the Irish construction industry to your inbox sign up to our free e-newsletter at www.constructionnews.ie While every effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this publication is correct, the publisher cannot not accept responsibility for any errors, omissions or discrepancies. Views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publisher.

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158,300 people now employed in the Irish construction sector

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ccording to the latest CSO statistics, in Q4 2021, it was estimated that the construction industry employed 158,300 people, an increase of 7.6% on the 147,100 employed in Q4 2020. On the face of it, 11,200 new employees in the 12 months up to December 2021 is good news, but as construction competes with other sectors and countries to attract the best talent while also aiming to meet the programme objectives of the National Development Plan and Housing for All, it is clear that more must be done to close the skills gap.

Highly-skilled construction professionals from outside the EU can wait for up to six months and more to complete the process that allows them to work in this country.

Removing impediments to speed up this process could make a big difference to progressing many vital projects. And, with many of the initiatives being progressed by the Construction Sector Group’s Innovation and Digital Adoption group falling into place now, it is a matter of extreme urgency that contractors and engineers can access the skills they need to have the resources to deliver projects.

In this issue of Irish Construction News, we speak with Martin Searson, Chair of the MMC Working Group and co-author of the CIF Modern Methods of Construction report, which has been prepared as part of the Innovation and Digital Adoption group’s work, about the current state of play in the Irish MMC sector and the sector’s potential to grow.

In our interview section, we speak with Cluid Housing CEO Brian O’Gorman about what Housing for All means for the AHB and why he believes cost rental housing will have a significant impact on addressing social housing needs.

We are also delighted to bring you an interview with Dr Nael Bunni, an international arbitrator and described as the “Father of Construction Dispute Resolution”

when he received the President’s Award from The Society of Construction Law last year.

We profile King & Moffatt and speak with COO Brendan Sweeney to learn how the Leitrim-based M&E contractor has become an integral part of many of its international clients’ operations, taking projects from “cradle to grave”.

Lisney Director Aoife Brennan takes an in-depth look at Housing for All, identifying key projects that she believes will get off the ground sooner and what potential pitfalls lie ahead for the plan.

In Opinion, solicitor Henry Hathaway advises that contractors avoid court proceedings unless required as a last resort, wise advice that is not always followed.

Irish Green Building Council #BuildingLife ambassador and Arup director Oonagh Reid speaks with us about her sustainability journey and how the Irish construction industry can move closer to being a zero-carbon emissions sector.

Elsewhere, we have all the latest construction and engineering news and analysis.

In the next issue of Irish Construction News, Our Sustainability Special issue, we will focus on the many opportunities and initiatives that will help Irish construction and engineering contractors become more sustainable and will feature commentary from the people who will be working to make this happen.

Please take a moment to scan the QR code below and sign up for our free e-newsletter.

And, if there are any issues or stories you would like to see featured in Irish Construction News, email me at robbie@foundationmedia.ie Regards Robbie Cousins Scan to subscribe to free e-newsletter

irish construction news 3 February/March 2022

CHARGING INTO THE

FUTURE

We have always been committed to embedding sustainability into the core of our activities. However, we now recognise the urgent need for an acceleration in our sustainability ambition and performance.

Our activities have an impact on our planet, the environment, the economy, and the communities in which we work; as such we are committed to ensuring environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors are embedded across all our operation and supply chain activities. Through our careful Stewardship, we will seek to enhance the communities and environment in which we operate.

We are working towards setting clear measurable targets to reduce our use of fuel, and energy as well as materials, waste, water, transport, and other sources of emissions. We are also developing a plan to enhance biodiversity and the natural environment where we operate. Building on work that has already commenced, such as our deployment of new technology, we will continue implementing changes at our facilities to help them to become even more carbon efficient and reduce material waste.

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NEWS

AECOM Ireland Annual Review 2022

AECOM predicts construction output to hit €32bn in 2022

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n its annual construction sector review, AECOM says pressure is growing on the construction sector to rapidly expand output to meet housing and infrastructure delivery targets. This is in addition to meeting the needs of other sectors.

For instance, it expects that substantial investment in the pharmaceutical, medical devices and data centre sectors will be one of several factors to drive increased activity over the next 12 months.

The coming years will also see the prioritisation of projects aimed at achieving carbon neutrality and promoting sustainability across the industry.

RESIDENTIAL ACTIVITY

AECOM expects that the residential sector, driven by strong public expenditure, will be on track to increase completions significantly in 2022, and it should well exceed the Housing for All target of 24,600 units. This is coming off the back of commencements in 2021, which, based on the government figures for the first 11 months, are on course to be in the region of 32,000.

TRANSPORT

The National Transport Authority’s ‘Draft Transport Strategy for the Greater Dublin Area for 2022 to 2042’ provides an update on the delivery of some of the major infrastructure projects, including Dublin’s BusConnects. The aim of these projects - as well as those from across the regions, such as the Cork Commuter Rail Programme, included in the NDP and as set out in Project Ireland 2040 - is to halve transport carbon emissions by 2030. Furthermore, the government’s forthcoming sustainability mobility policy focuses on safe walking, cycling and low-carbon travel initiatives under a €360m annual investment allocation, with €60m allocated for greenways.

2022 will see the continuation of smaller capital projects that optimise the usage of the existing transport network, aligning with the government’s priority around the protection and renewal of existing transport assets as outlined in the National Investment Framework for Transport in Ireland.

REPAIR, MAINTENANCE AND IMPROVEMENT

In addition to new build construction works; repair, maintenance and improvement (RMI) has always formed a significant element of construction output, albeit with lower individual project value. This is likely to increase in 2022 and beyond as the government invests in retrofit pathfinder programmes to achieve the increased energy efficiency and carbon reduction commitments set out in the Climate Action Plan.

According to AECOM’s Ireland Annual Review 2022, construction output in 2022 should surpass €32bn, up 18% from the €27bn output of 2021, with housing completions between 25,000 - 30,000 units, exceeding the Housing for All target of 24,600 units.

TENDER PRICES

Ultimately, the outlook for construction costs and tender prices for 2022 remains uncertain, thanks to continued volatility in the market and the potential unknown impacts of any further coronavirus wave.

Nonetheless, the experience of 2021 perhaps provides a guide to what lies ahead.

While material manufacturers and suppliers may have significantly restored capacity and production, it may be optimistic to expect that material prices may reduce or remain stagnant.

Globally, the AECOM Review says that there have been significant increases in energy costs over the past number of months, and the logistics supply chain continues to experience significant cost increases. These trends in input costs will likely keep upward pressure on material price increases throughout 2022, though moderated from the exceptional 2021 levels of increase.

In addition, the broader consumer price inflation rate increases will inevitably lead to pressure on labour costs. Regarding construction labour costs, the government recently approved the labour court recommendation for an increase in labour rates of approximately 2.8% in February 2022 and February 2023.

The recent government announcement with respect to changes including indexation and the calculations under the price variation clauses under public works contracts - to address the risk of price inflation is welcome. However, it is limited in nature. In 2022, AECOM expects average tender price inflation of 5%.

LABOUR CHALLENGES

A critical issue for the broader built environment sector is the difficulty in providing the necessary skills for the industry. The average number employed in the industry in the first half of 2021 (as per the Central Statistics Office Labour Force Survey) was approximately 125,000, which was 16.5% less than the pre-pandemic level of 150,000 in Q3 2019.

However, there is some good news with Q3 2021 numbers jumping by 15% from Q2 to 146,000, which signals a significant boost.

However, the industry will need to continue attracting more workers to meet demand and grow to achieve its full growth potential.

A full copy of the AECOM Ireland Annual Review 2022 can be downloaded at the AECOM website, https://communications.aecom. com/ireland-annual-review-2022

irish construction news 5 February/March 2022

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NEWS

Three quarters of LDA housing output will be cost rental units

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bout 75% of homes to be delivered by the Land Development Agency (LDA) are expected to be cost rental units, according to the organisation’s new chairperson, Cormac O’Rourke.

The LDA chair has told the Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage that the LDA plans for more than 10,000 new homes to be provided in the short to medium term and that the agency’s “working assumption is that cost rental will account for approximately 75% of homes built as a result of its work.”

The LDA was established to amass and develop state property for housing. The government’s Housing for All plan targets delivering 18,000 cost-rental homes by 2030.

Under Housing for All, the LDA will be the state’s primary channel for developing cost-rental housing, and it will also provide affordable purchase and social housing.

Cormac O’Rourke told the committee that LDA’s main focus in the coming year would be on delivery, with construction at two key sites - Shanganagh, Co Dublin, and St Kevin’s in Cork - to start this year, but they will take some time to complete.

PROJECT TOSAIGH

The LDA is also involved in Housing for All’s Project Tosaigh – an initiative to activate land with planning permission that is not currently going to construction or being

Cormac O’Rourke addressing the Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage. Image courtesy of Oireachtas TV. delivered quickly enough. The proposal is to accelerate the provision of public housing – both cost rental and affordable purchase – on such private land through forward purchase.

Colm O’Rourke said that the ambition is to deliver 5,000 homes through Project Tosaigh over the next four years.

On medium-term plans, O’Rourke commented that approximately 5,200 more homes are to be delivered on 10 state-owned sites, including St Teresa’s Gardens and the Central Mental Hospital site in Dublin, as well as Shanganagh and St Kevin’s.

He explained that these plans “are subject

to planning and government approval, and the expected mix of housing to be delivered on the sites is approximately 80% apartments and 20% houses.”

MODERN METHODS OF CONSTRUCTION

O’Rourke also told the committee that the LDA will look to “encourage standardisation and modular construction – to speed up construction, improve quality, provide better working conditions for workers, and generate houses that are more sustainable at a lower cost.”

Statutory CIRI registration for builders to commence from early 2024

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tatutory registration in initial categories of the Construction Industry Register Ireland (CIRI) is envisaged to commence for building services providers from early 2024.

The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien, has welcomed the publication of the Regulation of Providers of Building Works Bill 2021, legislation that will put the CIRI on a statutory footing. The Bill aims to benefit consumers and the general public by giving those who engage a registered builder the assurance that they are dealing with a competent and compliant operator.

The legislation is committed to in the Housing for All plan. Currently, entities providing building services can voluntarily register with CIRI, which has been operated by the Construction Industry Federation (CIF) since 2014. Once the legislation is enacted, all entities providing building services will be required to register with

CIRI. CIRI was established by the CIF, which is expected to operate the statutory register.

This is a similar model to that of registration for registered architects and surveyors.

Approximately 800 building and contracting entities are currently included on the register. When the register operates on a statutory footing, it is expected that initially at least 5,000 entities will be required to register.

The requirement to register will apply to builders of both residential and nonresidential buildings that are subject to the building regulations. Employees of

such building firms will not be required to apply, but sole traders will. Eligibility for registration can be achieved through qualifications, experience or a combination of both. The criteria required for registration will be clear and transparent and will be set out in regulations.

Once enacted, the statutory register is expected to help develop and promote a culture of competence, good practice and compliance with building regulations. The new measures will also address shadow economic activity in the construction sector and ensure fairer competition for compliant operators.

The Bill will also provide for the CIRI to receive complaints against registered builders on several grounds, including complaints against an entity providing building services in a category in which they are not registered. The Bill provides for a range of proportionate sanctions to be imposed after investigation.

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Henry Hathaway Solicitors is a niche law firm that is tailored and designed to cater specifically to the construction industry.

Henry Hathaway qualified originally as a Civil & Structural Engineer and has previously spent twelve years in the construction industry representing both Contractors and Engineering Clients. He is a practising solicitor in both Ireland and England and Wales.

He acts for clients in relation to disputes and litigation as well as regularly advising on dispute avoidance and alternative dispute resolution. He also acts on non-contentious matters on smalland large-scale construction projects using his 8 irish construction news February/March 2022

extensive knowledge of the industry both in Ireland and the UK. Henry Hathaway Solicitors provides bespoke training and development progammes for construction companies, which cover areas of contract formation and interpretation, claims in loss expense, and interim and final account disputes. These programmes are suitable for companies that require advice on the compiling of claims, that have payment disputes and to support those who require legal assistance in the process of administering their contracts.

NEWS

John G Murphy, President, CECA, and Managing Director, Murphy Ireland.

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he Civil Engineering Contractors’ Association (CECA) is calling on stakeholders across the construction industry and beyond to act now to reduce carbon emissions in the sector.

The CECA, which represents many of Ireland’s largest and most established civil engineering firms, wants the sector and its clients to take decisive and collective action now to limit carbon emissions and reduce their impact on climate change.

John G Murphy, President, CECA, and Managing Director, Murphy Ireland, said: “While much work has been done by companies individually to shift towards more sustainable and environmentally friendly work practices - and the majority of our

Civil engineering body calls on all infrastructure stakeholders to collaborate to reduce emissions

sector’s work makes the world around us more sustainable and connected through the upgrading and improving of infrastructure - we cannot escape the fact that the construction process and the materials used throughout contribute heavily to carbon emissions.

“The CECA believes that true change in this area can only be achieved if a concerted and collective effort is made to move away from C02-heavy practices and materials, with the support of clients and designers, making more enlightened, greener choices with sustainability in mind from design to delivery.”

Paul Sheridan, Director of Main Contracting, CIF, added: “There is a wealth of knowledge, experience and expertise within the CECA that can assist public policy to make this shift toward greener, more

environmentally-friendly solutions, making the industry more efficient and effective. We welcome any opportunity to further engage with Government in this regard.

Paul Sheridan explained that the CECA will be a key supporting partner in the government’s Climate Action Plan.

“The CECA support the National Development Plan and recognise the importance of the Government’s National Investment Framework for Investment in Ireland in choosing the right type of infrastructure based on sound criteria.

CECA members are working to align their supply chain to the EPA Public Green Procurement Guidelines to reduce embodied carbon. They are also fully supportive of the circular economy and creating the necessary infrastructure to reduce, reuse and recycle construction waste.”

Cork main drainage project awarded Engineering Endeavour of 2021 accolade

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wastewater drainage project that has ended the decadeslong practice of discharging raw sewage directly into Cork lower harbour has been awarded the prestigious Engineering Endeavour of 2021 accolade by Engineers Ireland.

Undertaken by Irish Water, the Cork Lower Harbour Main Drainage Project was awarded the prestigious accolade having featured in Engineers Ireland’s Engineering Excellence Digital Series, held in association with ESB, and was chosen by the public and members of Engineers Ireland as the top engineering project of 2021 following an online vote.

Following seven years of extensive engineering works, completed in September 2021, the drainage scheme now prevents the equivalent of 40,000 wheelie bins of raw sewage from Ringaskiddy, Carrigaline, Crosshaven, Passage West, Monkstown and Cobh Town being discharged untreated each day into Cork harbour, the second-largest natural harbour in the world.

The project was completed in several phases by Irish Water, which invested €144m to ensure that wastewater was collected and fully treated before its safe discharge into the harbour. In addition to constructing a state-of-the-art wastewater treatment plant in Shanbally, the project also involved two of the longest horizontal directional drills ever undertaken in Ireland to install sewer pipes over 1km long, some 60 metres below the Lee estuary.

Over 20,000 businesses and homes are now connected to the new wastewater scheme, which will protect the environment and support local communities’ sustainable development and growth.

Déaglán Healy, Project Manager, Irish Water, commented that a high degree of engineering ingenuity and skill was required across all

Cork Lower Harbour Main Drainage Project. project phases.

“We are incredibly proud to receive the Engineering Endeavour of 2021 title,” he said. “We have come a long way since we started work on this project in 2014. Irish Water has eliminated 60% of raw sewage discharges across Ireland, and we are on track to remove 95% by 2025.

“This scheme and its benefits have been delivered safely through a hugely collaborative effort between Irish Water and our delivery partners, Cork County Council, Nicholas O’Dwyer Ltd, Long O’Donnell Ltd, Farrans Sorensen Joint Venture, O’Connor Utilities, Ward & Burke, EPS and Sisk, and of course, all the communities and businesses whose cooperation and patience have allowed these works to succeed,” Healy concluded.

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NEWS

JJ Rhatigan & Company makes two senior appointments

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J Rhatigan & Company has announced the appointment of Niall Higgins as Chief Operations Officer (COO) and Francis Mulry as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) in the latest shake-up of its senior management team.

These new appointments follow the announcement of Ger Ronayne as Chief Executive Officer in recent months.

Niall Higgins, who has been working with JJ Rhatigan & Company for 18 years, is a chartered member of the MCIOB and has a breadth of industry experience across Ireland and the UK. He served as regional manager for JJ Rhatigan & Company UK for over four years before taking up the position of regional manager in Ireland, later progressing to regional director. This new COO role will see him take on responsibility for overseeing the operations and procedures of the company.

Commenting on his appointment as COO, Niall Higgins said: “The construction industry is undergoing massive transformation right now, which presents a number of unprecedented challenges, but also unprecedented opportunities. I am personally and professionally delighted to take on these challenges and opportunities as COO. The prevailing legacy within JJ Rhatigan & Company ensures that the company is well-positioned not just to withstand this industry transformation, but to lead it.”

Francis Mulry has been working with JJ Rhatigan & Company since 1997. He started as a project quantity surveyor. He worked on a wide range of projects, including leisure, education, public access buildings and housing, rising through the ranks to become commercial director. Mulry has been instrumental in developing

Niall Higgins, COO, JJ Rhatigan & Company; and Francis Mulry, CCO, JJ Rhatigan & Company. the business over the past two decades, helping it to become one of Ireland’s leading contractors.

Commenting in his appointment as CCO, Francis Mulry said: “Much has changed in construction over the past 25 years. However, the fundamentals of quality, managing efficiencies, and consistently meeting and exceeding client expectations remain at the core. This is not possible without a great team and excellent communication, which is a key differentiator here at JJ Rhatigan & Company. I welcome the opportunity to help guide the business in its next phase of development and success.”

Grafton Architects shortlisted for European Architecture Award 2022

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reland’s Grafton Architects has been shortlisted for the 2022 European Union prize for contemporary architecture the Mies van der Rohe Award.

The award-winning practice’s Town House, Kingston University London will compete against four other projects from Spain, France, Germany and Belgium in the architecture category.

The original list of nominees featured 532 projects completed between October 2018 and April 2021 in 41 countries. Earlier this year, the European Commission and the Mies van der Rohe Foundation announced 40 shortlisted projects and published the five finalists in late February. The winners will be announced in April, with the awards ceremony in May. A progressive new model for designing higher education buildings, with Town House, Kingston University, Grafton Architects have designed a purposefully democratic and open space. In designing the building, the architects were very aware that many of the students at Kingston are the first in their family to attend university, and this building sends an important message to them, their educators and the local community that this is a place where everyone is welcome and valued.

The Town House building’s educational vision and ethos are described as “uniquely rich and progressive with unexpected adjacencies set up by virtue of the programme. The library facility is twinned with dance studios, performance and event spaces.

The building is a democratic, open infrastructure, a labyrinth of interlocking volumes, maintaining the feeling of being in one unified environment where these opposites can happily co-exist.”

This latest accolade is further international acclaim for Grafton

The Town House, Kingston University London Architects’ work. In 2021, it was awarded both the RIBA Stirling Prize and an Architectural Association of Ireland Award for the Town House, Kingston University London in addition to the L’Equerre d’Argent, the most prestigious architectural honour in France, for the Toulouse School of Economics.

In 2020, the practice was awarded both the RIBA Royal Gold Medal and the Pritzker Prize for Architecture. Presented to Grafton Architects’ founding directors Shelley McNamara and Yvonne Farrell, the Pritzker Prize is considered the highest honour in the architectural profession.

The practice has become known for remarkable university buildings, from Bocconi University in Milan to the UTEC campus in Lima, Peru.

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NEWS

Retrofitting programme will require 17,000 workers

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s part of its National Retrofit programme, the government has approved a package of supports to make it more affordable for homeowners to undertake home energy upgrades. The measures address barriers to undertaking retrofits reported by homeowners and those working in the industry. They also reflect the step-change needed – in pace and scale of delivery – to achieve the target of 500,000 home energy upgrades to B2 Building Energy Rating (BER) standard by 2030.

The new National Home Energy Upgrade Scheme will be administered by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI). The increased grant supports, and the significant ramping up of free energy upgrades for those at risk of energy poverty is supported by ring-fenced funds from the carbon tax.

However, the supply of materials and workers could become an issue if demand increases.

The SEAI estimates that 17,000 workers will be needed for the planned programme of retrofitting 500,000 homes by 2030.

Centres of excellence for retrofit training have been established in the WaterfordWexford and Laois-Offaly ETB areas, and centres in Limerick-Clare, Mayo-Sligo and Cork areas are expected to open soon.

National Construction Training Centre, Mount Lucas.

The National Construction Training Centre in Mount Lucas, Co Offaly, has set up buildings inside a training hall for trainees to practise on. There is a course on all aspects of retrofitting existing homes and another on Near Zero Energy Building (NZEB) techniques. Mount Lucas hopes to train up to 2,500 workers in Retrofit and NZEB skills.

The key measures of the retrofit programme include: • A new National Home Energy Upgrade Scheme providing increased grant levels of up to 50% of the cost of a typical deep retrofit to a B2 BER standard (up from 30%-35% grants currently)

•

•

•

One-stop-shops offering hassle-free, start-to-finish project management service, including access to financing, for home energy upgrades A significant increase in the number of free energy upgrades for those at risk of energy poverty (400 per month – up from an average of 177 per month in 2021) An exchequer investment of €8bn to 2030 will enable the supply chain to scale up, creating thousands of jobs and delivering on this critical national objective.

PJ Rudden appointed to Project Ireland 2040 Delivery Board

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he Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Michael McGrath has announced the appointment of PJ Rudden as one of five external members to the Project Ireland 2040 Delivery Board, which was set up in 2018 to assist with the implementation of the National Development Plan and the National Planning Framework.

PJ Rudden, who is the Chair of Innovation and Digital Adoption, Construction Sector Group (CSG), is the founder of Aengus Consulting and a past director of RPS, is also a past president of Engineers Ireland. The CSG was established, following the launch of Project Ireland 2040 and the National Development Plan, to ensure regular and open dialogue between the government and the construction sector and identify areas for action.

The membership of the 2040 Delivery Board has to date predominantly comprised secretaries general of the main capital

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spending government departments. The appointment of five new external members will bring additional expert knowledge, greater private sector experience, as well as important independent and regional perspectives, to the deliberations of the delivery board.

The four other people to be appointed to the board are chartered town planner and former president of the Irish Planning Institute Mary Hughes; Sean O’ Driscoll, Chairman of the Economic and Social Research Institute; Terry Prendergast, a professional planner and member of the Irish Planning Institute; and Thomas Barrett, Senior non-resident Fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington DC, focusing on the financing of Sustainable Development and of Strategic Infrastructure.

Speaking about the appointments Minister McGrath said: “I am very pleased to announce the appointment to the Project Ireland 2040 Delivery Board of five highly

PJ Rudden. qualified experts with extensive experience at senior levels in planning, academia, international good practice and project delivery. This was a very competitive process and I want to congratulate the new members who will now take their place on the board.”

NEWS

Cairn Homes had its highest new home sales to date in the second half of 2021

Michael Stanley, CEO, Cairn Homes.

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n a trading update for the year to the end of December 2022, Cairn Homes reports that it expects its turnover to come in above €600m, with 1,500 closed new home sales from active sites with full planning permission.

The homebuilder states that after a

disruptive first half in 2021 with site closures due to Covid-19 restrictions, the second half of the year was its strongest ever performance in terms of new homes sold, margin progression, profitability and cash generation.

Cairn expects operating profits of €95-€100m for 2022. This is up from its previous guidance of €85m.

In 2021, Cairn closed 1,120 new home sales, up from 743 in 2020, and generated total core revenue of about €419m compared to €246.9m in 2020.

Cairn Homes also reported that it was experiencing build cost inflation of about €15,000 per new home and stated that the affordability of its starter homes remains a key objective. Its 2021 average selling price was €350,000, compared to €348,000 in 2020, in prime, sought-after suburban locations.

Michael Stanley, CEO, Cairn Homes, commented that the company delivered on all of its business objectives for 2021 despite the impact of public health restrictions early in the year, which closed construction sites across Ireland.

“We achieved a key milestone in the second half of the year when we sold our 5,000th new home since we commenced business in 2015,” Stanley said.

He added that in 2022 Cairn will support over 3,000 full-time positions on 22 active sites, building high quality, sustainable new homes on well-located developments with full planning permission.

“The trajectory of the business has enabled us to upgrade our guidance for 2022. We now plan to close 1,500 sales, boosting revenues to over €600m, while also significantly increasing operating cash flow from prior guidance,” Michael Stanley concluded.

Glenveagh revenues rose 64% to €476m in 2021 H omebuilder Glenveagh Properties announced that it completed 1,150 home sales in 2021, despite the 13-week Covid-19 lockdown in the first half of the year, with a 64% increase on 2020 revenues and a 36% increase compared to pre-pandemic 2019.

In a trading update for the year ended 31 December 2021, Glenveagh reported that its revenues in 2021 rose to €476m from €232m the previous year. Its core revenue totalled €402m, primarily from 977 unit sales, with the core suburban average selling price at €308,000, down from €311,000 in 2020.

A statement from Glenveagh said that it finished the year with 605 suburban units contracted or reserved for 2022, indicating strong demand, particularly from first-time buyers, and the maturing sales profile within the business.

Glenveagh also stated that it had bought suburban land with the potential for 2,700 units in 2021, 75% of which has planning, at an aggregate cost of €72m.

Stephen Garvey, CEO, Glenveagh Properties.

The group completed the sale of three individual urban developments during the year.

Union Investment acquired its Castleforbes, Dublin Docklands, hotel site and subsequent development of the Premier

Inn hotel as part of a €70m forward funding arrangement. Eagle Street acquired the Castleforbes, Dublin Docklands, residential and second hotel sites for €78.5m. It also completed the sale of 75 units at Dargan Hall, Bray, for approximately €25m.

irish construction news 13 February/March 2022

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NEWS

Revised PII guidelines aim to ensure competent contractors and consultants not excluded from public works contracts

Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Michael McGrath.

T

he Department of Public Expenditure and Reform has published revised guidelines for professional indemnity insurance (PII) for public works projects procured under the Capital Works Management Framework (CWMF).

As a result of a tightening insurance market for PII, it is becoming difficult to

obtain PII at levels that were previously commonplace. Policies for construction professionals and contractors are becoming increasingly expensive, are providing a reduced level of cover, have a greater number of exclusions and increased levels of excess.

The Office of Government Procurement (OGP) has engaged with industry and insurers operating in the PII market on this issue.

The revised guidelines have been introduced in recognition of the significant changes in the cost and availability of PII over the past two years.

The new guidelines are designed to reflect the level of insurance currently available, thereby ensuring that contractors and consultants can continue to participate in competitions for public works projects whilst maintaining levels of insurance that are proportionate to those projects.

Commenting on the new guidelines, the

Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Michael McGrath, said: “I recognise the problems that a tightened insurance market for PII is having on public works projects at present. I have been working with my officials considering how best to balance the requirement for adequate risk provision and the availability of appropriate PII in a challenging market.

“The revised requirements reflect the current level of PII that is available and will ensure that otherwise capable and competent consultants and contractors are not excluded from public tenders because levels of PII are being set that are not generally available in the market.”

The guidance and revised procurement documents associated with the procurement of works-related consultancy services can be found at www.constructionprocurement.gov.ie

Labour Court recommended new pay rates for the electrical contracting sector

T

he Minister of State for Business, Employment and Retail Damien English TD has signed a statutory instrument giving legal effect to a recommendation from the Labour Court for new minimum pay rates to workers in the electrical contracting sector. This recommendation was approved by both Houses of the Oireachtas on 07 December.

CATEGORY 3 Sixth year out of time €25.02 per hour APPRENTICE Year 1 – 35% of Category 1 Rate Year 2 – 45% of Category 1 Rate Year 3 - 65% of Category 1 Rate Year 4 - 80% of Category 1 Rate.

ELECTRICAL CONTRACTING SECTOR PAY RATES

CATEGORY 1 First year out of time €24.81 per hour CATEGORY 2 Third year out of time €25.31 per hour CATEGORY 3 Sixth year out of time €25.72 per hour APPRENTICE Year 1 - 35% of Category 1 Rate Year 2 - 45% of Category 1 Rate Year 3 - 65% of Category 1 Rate Year 4 - 80% of Category 1 Rate.

The following basic hourly rates of pay apply in the sector from 01 February 2022 to 31 January 2023.

BASIC HOURLY RATES OF PAY FROM 1 FEBRUARY 2022 TO 31 JANUARY 2023 CATEGORY 1 First year out of time €24.14 per hour CATEGORY 2 Third year out of time €24.63 per hour

BASIC HOURLY RATES OF PAY FROM 1 FEBRUARY 2023

PENSION CONTRIBUTION FROM 1 FEBRUARY 2022 The minimum pension and death in service scheme contribution rates for employers and workers shall be set at the following levels: Employer daily rate - €5.73 (weekly - €28.65 Worker daily rate - €3.82 (weekly - €19.10) Total contribution daily into the scheme per worker - €9.55 (weekly €47.75)

PENSION CONTRIBUTION FROM 1 FEBRUARY 2023 Employer daily rate - €5.84 (weekly - €29.22) Worker daily rate - €3.90 (weekly - €19.50) Total contribution daily into the scheme per worker - €9.74 (weekly €48.70).

SICK PAY SCHEME

The following contribution rates in respect of a sick pay scheme will apply: Employer - €1.27 per week Worker - €0.63 per week Total - €1.90 per week.

irish construction news 15 February/March 2022

M A I N F E AT U R E

Bathroom pod fabrication and offsite assembly using a light gauge welded steel frame - LMC Group, Nenagh, Co Tipperary.

MARTIN SEARSON, Chair of the MMC Group that recently published the CIF report on Modern Methods of Construction, explains to Barry McCall that the industry is in for some dramatic changes in the coming years.

O

ne thing that becomes abundantly clear after even a cursory readthrough of the CIF Modern Methods of Construction Report, prepared as part of the Construction Sector Group’s Innovation and Digital Adoption Subgroup work, is that this is about far more than digitising certain elements of the existing process or finding new ways to make traditional construction methods faster.

Instead, true adoption of modern methods of construction (MMC) has the potential to transform the entire industry rendering it almost unrecognisable as the sector we know today.

Report co-author Martin Searson sums it up when he says: “It’s not construction, it’s manufacturing.”

In fact, if it didn’t sound so overblown, it would almost be fair to describe MMC as a philosophy rather than a collection of different methods of construction work.

The whole point is to make construction as controllable as manufacturing with the same cost and scheduling certainties, thus reducing variability in the fabrication and assembly process.

That’s not going to be achieved through

16 irish construction news February/March 2022

Shaping the future for offsite construction in Ireland piecemeal solutions, and the Irish construction industry and its major clients will have no choice but to embrace this new philosophy if they are not to fall behind international standards.

CHALLENGES OF TRADITIONAL CONSTRUCTION METHODS

In that context, it should be pointed out that there is nothing inherently wrong with the Irish construction industry as it stands.

Indeed, offsite manufacturers and Irish contractors can be found working across the UK and mainland Europe on some of the most advanced manufacturing plants and technology installations on the planet.

The issue is not the quality of the work being delivered by the industry, rather it is the industry’s ability to maintain that standard in the face of growing skills shortages, rising materials costs, and the need to embed the principles of sustainability and circularity into future built environment projects.

MMC RECOMMENDATIONS

This is the second report in a trilogy of MMC reports. It focuses on identifying the

Martin Searson key market requirements to drive further adoption and implementation on a broader scale for both domestic and export markets.

It also looks at barriers to adoption.

Among the report’s key recommendations is the establishment of an MMC demonstration park supported by a research and innovation centre (Construction

M A I N F E AT U R E

3D Volumetric housing units fabricated off site in a production assembly process - Modern Homes Ireland, Ballyjamesduff, Co Cavan.

“CNC technician operating an automated partition cutting machine process on the LMC offsite manufacturing production floor.

Technology Innovation Centre). In addition, the report calls for: • The establishment of a national infrastructure of testing facilities for durability, acoustic, thermal, structural, fire and moisture; • The creation of a living laboratory demonstrating multiple typologies - a demonstration of physical building types or specific uses to allow modelling and an examination of operational characteristics in a live environment; • The provision of industry-focused advanced education and training facilities to deliver the human capital to meet the current and future needs of MMC; • The development of certification systems for standardised typologies across sectors such as housing, education, and healthcare to actively drive national standards to enable scalability, repetition and growth in supply chains; • Greater support for the requirements of insurance, funding, financial security, and investment decision-makers by providing regulatory, audit, inspection, and certification systems to alleviate client and building user concerns of MMC; and • Support of design for manufacture and assembly (DfMA) installation and management of follow-on trades and to build the necessary skills in sufficient numbers to meet national construction demands for MMC.

A CHANGE OF MINDSET

According to Martin Searson, the adoption of MMC will also require a change in thinking.

“It is about starting with a build offsite strategy and approach for building and

assembling as much offsite as possible in an innovative way,” he explains. “This will reduce cycle times, allow for the introduction of Lean processes, and will address issues like sustainability and the labour shortage. Industry 4.0 is coming to construction, and that will require a change in mindset. With change comes disruption, and MMC is the future. Smart, modular construction carried out offsite using novel materials and innovative installation methods is the way forward. That will also enable a pathway to the circular economy for the industry.”

Unlike the shift back to the physical workplace, hybrid solutions won’t work when it comes to MMC. “You must have an off-site strategy in place from the very start,” says Searson. “You can always go back to on-site methods, if necessary, but it is impossible to go from onsite back to off-site once started. If you start with offsite, you always have the option of changing, but if you go straight to traditional methods, time just evaporates.”

VOLUME CHALLENGES

But there is a volumetric challenge. Ireland is a small enough market as it stands, but without a fairly wide scale shift by clients to embrace MMC, there will be insufficient demand to support the nascent MMC supply-chain and sub-supply sectors.

“If a manufacturer gets an order for 80 bathroom pods for a client, that may keep them busy for 16 weeks, and when they deliver, the site may not be ready to accept them,” Searson notes. “If they have to take them back, they will clog up the factory.

Then they might get three similar orders at the same time and nothing else for months.

You can’t have that sort of stop-start activity to a production process.”

He points out that no business can afford to run on those lines, nor can it be expected to scale up production for those few busy periods when the factory will lie idle for long periods of time.

What is needed is what he describes as a “rinse and repeat continuity approach”, based on standardised performance criteria or frameworks.

But there are hopeful signs with more clients seeing modular solutions, thereby adding impetus to the move to Construction 4.0 and increased demand for the MMC supply chain.

OFFSITE MANUFACTURING IN IRELAND

The report offers valuable insights into the offsite manufacturing (OSM) supply-chain system.

“There wasn’t much knowledge about the ecosystem before this,” Martin Searson notes.

“There are actually 111 companies in the sector now with over €1bn invested in offsite manufacturing capacity and capability.

They cover everything from programming to 2D-panelised and 3D-volumetric, modularised plantroom units and complex M&E modules for data centres, and they are supplying the commercial, industrial, life sciences, and semiconductor projects too. There is a wide range of skills and capabilities there. It’s a matter of tapping into that. We have developed a database of these companies and are planning to promote that to potential customers.”

With the advent of new materials and accelerating product innovation, a critical issue for the industry in Ireland is the lack of testing and certification facilities in certain key areas.

“There is no fire testing facility in the Republic of Ireland, for example,” he points out. “There is one on the Ulster University Jordanstown campus, but certification from UK bodies is no longer recognised in Ireland since Brexit. Companies now have to send products to Europe for certification. If there are significant changes in the technology or

irish construction news 17 February/March 2022

M A I N F E AT U R E apprenticeships, digitalisation, OSM and beyond, going all the way up to level-nine qualifications in universities and institutes of technology. There are exciting opportunities in the industry for everyone, and we need to get that message out.”

The type of training required is not merely to meet construction skills needs.

“We also need to build awareness of MMC solutions, technologies, risk-sharing mechanisms, new forms of contract, and emerging new materials,” he explains. “This is a disruptive process, and it will squeeze traditional linear supply chains. Companies will need to move to more collaborative models to address that. And that will require particular skillsets as well.”

THE INDUSTRY NEEDS VOLUME 2D panelised timber-frame off-site fabrication, with on-site structural assembly for a housing development - Cygnum Building Offsite, Macroom, Co Cork. One of the simplest ways to capture carbon and reduce CO2 in the atmosphere is by increasing the use of wood in construction. materials being used, they may have to go for re-certification.” The NSAI has recently published a Guide to Agrément Certification for Modern Methods of Construction (MMC), which will be of great benefit to companies adopting OSM solutions.

A GOLDEN THREAD

When asked to name three key requirements for the MMC Demonstration Park and Construction Technology Innovation Centre, 28% of those interviewed by Searson and his team were keen to see some form of testing facility, particularly for fire, acoustic, structural, and thermal products.

Twenty-seven per cent felt that education and training facilities were important for MMC to ensure Ireland stayed up to date on industry best practices. Developing and supporting a ‘golden thread’ concept in standards, regulations and certifications was a high priority, with 23% of stakeholders stressing that this is a key requirement.

While 13% and 9% spoke about building collaborative partnerships and developing a new procurement route and contract for MMC, respectively.

Another aspect that needs to be looked at, according to Martin Searson, is the financial arrangements underpinning construction contracts in the new world. He explains that the switch to the manufacturing model will require upfront investment and the current method of monthly or staged payments won’t work for it. That speaks to the need for more close and collaborative partnerships and new risk-sharing models between clients and the industry.

Interestingly, when asked to name the key drivers for the adoption of MMC, time to market and cost certainty came out on top, while sustainability didn’t really feature at

18 irish construction news February/March 2022

this early stage.

“That is likely to change over the next few years as sustainability becomes a more important factor for all of us and for the requirement to reuse, repurpose and for disassembly of modular construction solutions,” he notes. “Modular construction gives much greater control over the timing of a project, and the client gets visibility of this.

It’s about taking variabilities out by moving to off-site processes.”

NECESSARY SKILLS

And then there is the not so small matter of skills.

“Clients are looking for more innovative solutions from the industry,” Martin Searson says. “That requires a much greater and deeper understanding of the type of skills needed and the education and training required to provide them for MMC. For example, among the key skills required by the industry in the future will be mechatronics, data analytics, gamers, smart city developers, etc. Once again, people have got to understand that this is manufacturing, not construction.”

That training can take many forms.

“Industry 4.0 is coming to construction, and we need to upskill people for that,” he continues. “We need to educate and train people for the new world of MMC. It could be one-day continuous professional development courses or discipline-specific courses on MMC for design staff, and we’ve been asked to develop programmes for those. Or, it could be second- and third-level courses, which have been requested too. We need much more training at third level. We also need to educate children at secondary level to show them the new opportunities the industry offers them in terms of

Martin Searson believes MMC will have a pivotal role to play in the delivery of both the National Development Plan and the Housing for All strategy.

“The industry is growing substantially, and the people in it want to respond to housing needs. They want to help achieve the objectives of the Housing for All strategy.

But again, it’s all about throughput. The industry needs commitment from clients that the demand will be there for their products and services.”

He explains that there are 25 offsite manufacturers specialising in housing solutions, including 3D volumetric and 2D panelised manufacturing.

“It’s not enough to go to them with 30 or 40 house schemes every now and then. The industry needs volume.”

CREATIVE OPPORTUNITIES

And moving to modularised houses doesn’t mean dull, uniform design.

“Facades and other features can be changed. The industry can do a lot when it comes to offering different design choices.

It is an exciting time for the industry. We see what’s happening in the United States, Europe and the UK. At the moment, 42 Irish OSMs are exporting. Hopefully, that number will grow. This is all associated with the European Green Deal scheme too, and the industry can make a contribution to Ireland meeting its Climate Action Plan targets for the built environment as well.”

“We need to drive the industry forward and hopefully meet the ultimate goal of supporting the delivery of Housing for All and the National Development Plan, and MMC solutions can play a part in this.”

Martin Searson concludes.

Martin Searson is CEO of Quality Positive Limited. He is also currently working with CJK Engineering is as a Quality & Innovation Manager supporting their continuous improvement initiatives across the company.

Image credit © levittbernstein.co.uk

Image credit © levittbernstein.co.uk

Image credit © levittbernstein.co.uk

Image credit © levittbernstein.co.uk

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irish construction news 19 February/March 2022

KILSARAN

Introducing KEWI

Kilsaran External Wall Insulation

K

ilsaran are delighted to announce that they are the first company to be awarded NSAI Agrément certification for External Wall Insulation to Lightweight Gauge Steel (LGS) frame substrates. KEWI (Kilsaran External Wall Insulation) can be applied to LGS walls, for both infill and modular loadbearing structures.

The system is a mechanically fixed, external insulated render system, with a vented drained moisture management cavity.

It is designed for use with NSAI certified LGS systems that are certified for infill and structural LGS up to 30m in height. The track record proven renders used on the KEWI system are supplied by Henkel Polska.

Infill panel construction in conjunction with reinforced concrete frames are a rapid build method that can be used in several situations with variable finishes including render, brick, stone and other cladding solutions.

This new innovative system can be used for both onsite and offsite cost modular construction and has added advantages for offsite construction where up to 90% of wall finishes can be applied in the factory which has many benefits including reduced labour cost, less weather delays, heightened health & safety control, rapid construction techniques and uncompromising levels of quality.

20 irish construction news February/March 2022

Robin Byrne from the National Standards Authority of Ireland recently presented Alan Holton and David McKeown from Kilsaran with the NSAI Agrément Certificate for Kilsaran External Wall Insulation (KEWI).

The system is also assessed for use in nonloadbearing infill panels. The infill panels are used within reinforced concrete, steel frames and traditional construction that possess their own independent lateral stability systems.

For more information, please visit www. kilsaran.ie/product/kewi/ or scan the QR code

irish construction news 21 February/March 2022

INTERVIEW

Brian O’Gorman with members of the Clúid Housing team at Clúid Housing’s cost rental development in Barnhall Meadows, Leixlip.

“Cost rental homes will provide secure and affordable housing into the future” BRIAN O’GORMAN, CEO, Clúid Housing, speaks with Mimi Murray about the opportunities and challenges that Housing for All presents for social housing delivery.

S

ince 1995, the approved housing body (AHB) Clúid Housing has provided over 9,000 affordable homes to over 23,500 people in housing need across Ireland. According to its annual report for 2020, 76% of the 675 homes it handed over that year were new build, of which 268 were developer turnkey, 155 Clúid design and build and 93 developer design and build.

In 2021, Clúid launched its Greening Strategy: Building a Sustainable Future Together, in which it outlined its target to 2030 that all new Clúid homes will be netzero operational carbon and have 40% less embodied carbon, and all existing homes will be retrofitted to a minimum BER B2 rating.

Brian O’Gorman, Chief Executive Officer, Clúid Housing, was the AHB’s first employee and was appointed CEO in 2000. He has served as president of the Irish Council for Social Housing and was a member of the Dublin City Council Strategic Policy Committee for Housing. More recently,

22 irish construction news February/March 2022

O’Gorman was appointed to the board of the new Housing Commission, which has been established under the Housing for All plan.

Brian O’Gorman has been a vocal proponent for the introduction of cost rental housing. He believes Housing for All is the first plan to be published by a government that sets out a clear vision to tackle the housing crisis, backed up with ringfenced funding.

“The Housing for All plan is very ambitious and positive overall,” O’Gorman comments. “With €4bn allocated annually over the life span of the plan, it has a large delivery pipeline. However, coming from a low base - 2.1% of GDP was spent on housing in 2020 compared to Germany where it was 7% - we’re catching up with a more European provision in terms of the allocation that is being made.”

Of specific relevance to Clúid is the planned 33,000 new homes each year, of which 10,000 will be social homes.

“The plan’s focus on new build will add

INTERVIEW

Clúid’s €23m regeneration of St Mary’s Mansions, Dublin. to the stock rather than displacing existing stock. The cost rental allocation of 2,000 units per year is what they’re suggesting can be produced annually. There’s a lot to be welcomed in it, given that for the past few years it has been top of the political agenda,” O’Gorman says.

level of manpower that will be required.”

LABOUR CHALLENGES

O’Gorman explains that the major issue that has been highlighted from Covid is a worldwide shortage of workers and skills.

“In terms of supply chains and materials shortages,” he says, “I think that it is temporary, and it will begin to work its way out. But, what isn’t temporary is the fact that we have this large, ambitious building programme but so does every other country in Europe. Workers from other European countries that were supplementing our own workforce are now in demand all over the continent. We need to retrofit, and it’s going to be much more expensive now as developers and contractors know their worth at this stage.”

FUNDING

Last year, Clúid Housing had its best year ever in output terms. Despite restrictions, it delivered 968 homes.

“We’ve never had such success. The new homes are spread throughout the country, with much of the building in larger cities and commuter counties to Dublin, such as Kildare, Meath and Louth. Cork is also a big area as well as Limerick. The need is in the large centres,” he explains.

O’Gorman says that the secured funding over the number of years of the plan gives housing bodies security about planning for what they can deliver.

“The lack of surety on finance has bedevilled previous plans. Housing isn’t susceptible to an annual cycle. It needs to be planned across a number of years, so that defined funding over the coming years is very positive.”

Brian O’Gorman adds that he is delighted to see the commitment to cost rental housing in the plan.

“As a country, we have done social housing, private housing, private rental housing, but many low-income working households have struggled, as they have been confined to expensive private rental accommodation or insecure types of accommodation. Cost rental homes will provide secure and affordable housing into the future. Of all the Housing for All goals, this will be seen as the most important to

Brian O’Gorman, CEO, Clúid Housing. come out of it.”

HOUSING FOR ALL CHALLENGES

But Brian O’Gorman says there will also be many challenges ahead in the delivery of the Housing for All plan, and some of these are already existing.

He explains: “The legacy defects from poor construction during the Celtic Tiger years are now having to be addressed. The real problem is that when you’re fixing up apartments, you’re not adding to the stock. It costs a lot of money, and it is a real challenge to new delivery if you continually have this legacy dragging you down. Retrofit is also costly but will not add significantly to the stock. It will also add additional pressures on the construction industry because of the

PARTNERING WITH CONTRACTORS AND DEVELOPERS

Clúid regularly works with the same developers, which is something that works in each party’s favour.

“As long as we keep delivering for certain developers, they’ll come back to us. In the relationships that we have built, we know they can deliver, and they know we can deliver. These are partnerships we want to foster. The fact that there is a multi-annual programme is much more definite for them and offers more security. Because cost rental has been introduced, now we can talk to developers about a mixed tenure, social rental, cost rental and age-friendly housing and bring different components to their development programmes. That’s something extremely positive, and developers can have more confidence selling their private housing, knowing that certain components

irish construction news 23 February/March 2022

INTERVIEW

Clúid’s Radharc An tSaile, a 40-unit NZEB-standard social housing scheme in Kinsale, Co Cork, by MMD Construction. in the scheme are already paid for.”

ACCESSING LAND

One of the major problems for AHBs like Clúid Housing is that they don’t have landbanks, unlike local authorities. AHBs rely on developers coming to them with sites or state land becoming available.

“In Housing for All, there are a couple of mechanisms, one of which is the zoned land tax, and with these, the government is trying to increase the motivation for land to be developed. This should free up more development land.

“The initial plan for the Land Development Agency (LDA) was to coordinate the delivery of state land. The impression was given that there was lots of state land in different departments - Health, Education, for example - that was not being developed because there was land hoarding going on. For example, a specific tract of land may be needed for a future medical facility, so it may be held on to in some very strategic areas in cities. These huge plots of land could form a significant part of the land available to develop housing.

“Addressing access to land is probably one component of Housing for All that we see as extremely progressive. The fact that the government is tying Irish Water into that discussion is also extremely positive.

In addition to the land being there, the infrastructure will also be in place in terms of water supply and wastewater.”

O’Gorman comments that it is about

24 irish construction news February/March 2022

coordinating all the activities, and it has all the right aspirations.

“The LDA will ultimately be judged on how it manages to bring that large landbank through. For example, if you look at the Brugha Barracks discussions, where one minister comes out and says we’re going to develop lots of housing on Cathal Brugha Barracks, but another TD says it’s already housing military families. It’s not quite going to be as clear and clean-cut, but the intention is certainly there to use this land because it is prime development land.”

site in panels to be erected is inevitably going to increase. It is also a much more assured way of developing and contracting. You don’t have the dependence on wet trades, it’s a much more predictable delivery on site, and as MMC becomes more mainstream, it will become a delivery game-changer,” he says.

“If you look at all the major developers and contractors, they all have tight partnerships or have bought over facilities that produce modular buildings. Once you have the land and it’s zoned, it’s a sweet spot to be in,” he comments.

COST INFLATION

IN CONCLUSION

During Covid, output was down, and building activity was held up for a period of time. Now activity has exploded in all quarters.

“Because supply chains are international, it’s been increasingly difficult to get materials, and we’ve seen prices soar. I think that will dissipate, and supply chains will come back to normal. But it won’t go back to where it was. So, the cost of construction will remain very high.“

MODERN METHODS OF CONSTRUCTION

O’Gorman states that technology and off-site construction will be essential to delivery in the coming years.

“The use of modern methods of construction (MMC) such as modular housing, where homes are manufactured offsite in factory conditions then brought to

Despite the challenges ahead, Brian O’Gorman is confident that the Housing for All plan will enable bodies like Clúid Housing to deliver much higher levels of social housing sustainably, and he looks forward to working with the government, developers and contractors to address this challenge in the coming years.

“With AHBs set to deliver 40% of all social housing as part of Housing for All, we want to be part of that new delivery process, and we have built up capacity to enable us to be part of it. We see that as an essential part of what we will be doing going forward.

Housing for All has a significant emphasis on home-ownership, but for Clúid, the goal will be to build up our stock of long term cost rental or social rental and manage them in a sustainable way,” he concludes.

irish construction news 25 February/March 2022

INTERVIEW

Dr Nael Bunni.

Arbitration will always be better than confrontation

Internationally renowned arbitrator DR NAEL BUNNI speaks to Barry McCall about his experiences over more than four decades of resolving construction disputes.

N

o description can adequately do justice to Dr Nael Bunni’s career as an arbitrator. His experience in construction dispute resolution dates back more than half a century, and he has been acknowledged as one of the world’s leading arbitrators since the 1980s. He recently received the President’s Award from The Society of Construction Law. At the presentation, he was described by Mr Justice David Barniville as ‘the father of construction dispute resolution’.

“I was interested in dispute resolution from the beginning of my career because of my involvement in construction insurance in

26 irish construction news February/March 2022

Iraq in the 1960s,” Dr Bunni recalls. “I was in charge of a construction insurance business, and there were always disputes in relation to whether contractors were entitled to be paid or not.”

Later in his career, he moved to Ireland to work as a consulting engineer but maintained his keen interest in dispute resolution. He attended a lecture on the topic where the speaker mentioned the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb), the international centre of excellence for the practice and profession of alternative dispute resolution.

“I didn’t realise such an institute existed,

INTERVIEW and I joined it straight away,” he says.

Not only did he join it, but he also went on to become its president. There was quite a bit of interest at the time in construction arbitration in Ireland, and he was appointed to arbitrate on a number of disputes here.

He says his international arbitration work started almost by accident.

“I was sitting at a table at a wedding with friends from Kuwait,” he explains. “One of them asked for my card and enquired about what CIArb meant. I was asked to take on a big case in Kuwait as a result. It really started from there.”

That was followed by an International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) conference in Paris.

“To my surprise, the chair introduced me as a leading construction dispute resolution expert,” he says with characteristic selfdeprecation. “The next thing I knew, the ICC approached me to take on work for them. I have been involved in arbitration domestically and internationally since. I enjoyed it and started studying on my own. I am self-taught to a large extent.”

In the context of being an auto-didact, he says it was “very interesting to receive the award from the Society of Construction Law.” People can often misunderstand the role of arbitration and its clear advantages as a dispute resolution mechanism.

“It is much more than a lower-cost alternative to the courts,” he explains. “It’s private to begin with. There is no linen washing in public. It can be much cheaper than going to court, but it can also be more expensive in some instances.”

That privacy element can be very important to the parties involved in an arbitration process. Indeed, it played a key role in resolving one of the earliest recorded uses of arbitration in a commercial dispute in Ireland. Dr Bunni mentioned it in an article for The Resolver, the journal of the CIArb, back in 2015.

The case concerned the Ouzel, a cargo vessel that sailed for what is now Turkey in 1695. It failed to return when it was expected, and the vessel was given up for lost at sea with all hands, and the insurance underwriters paid up on its hull and cargo.

In 1700, however, it arrived in Dublin Port with the captain explaining that it had been captured by pirates but that the crew had eventually managed to regain control of the vessel and sail home laden down with pirate booty.

This naturally led to a dispute relating to the ownership of the cargo. With the parties gearing up for a lengthy and potentially ruinous court action, the wise decision was taken to seek an alternative resolution, and the case was submitted to a panel of fellow merchants for arbitration. That group subsequently became a standing arbitration

body for merchants known as the Ouzel Galley Society.

Very interestingly, although it is known that the dispute was settled to the satisfaction of all parties, nothing is known of the actual resolution. This speaks volumes for the importance of privacy in these cases, as no party could be seen as a loser.

Another advantage is the ability of the parties to choose the arbitrator.

“In court, you can’t choose the judge; in arbitration, you can choose the person or tribunal to hear the case. And you can choose people who should be expert in the areas in dispute. You can also decide on the programme you wish to go through. The parties can influence what should be done and when. In court, you are completely in the hands of the judge.”

There is also room for flexibility in how the parties want the proceedings to be conducted and what they want the tribunal to do.

Dr Bunni explains: “For example, in one case, we had to visit the site. The issue in dispute was the façade of a 27-storey building in Cairo. It was finished in beautiful orange marble from Italy. The architect had been very careful to specify how he wanted it done. When it was finished, he said it wasn’t how he wanted it and demanded that it be taken down. The cost and complexity of that would have been enormous. We had to go to the site to see for ourselves.

“In another example, one of the parties said the merits of their case would be obvious if the tribunal could visit the site for ourselves. The tribunal took them at their word and went to check it out.”

Another benefit he points to is the fact that the arbitrator or tribunal has prior expertise to bring to bear.

“You don’t have to educate the judge on the matters in dispute,” Dr Bunni notes.

“You can also set the ground rules. The parties can agree between themselves on the most important issue to be resolved first. Sometimes it can be difficult for the arbitrator to decide what’s most important.

The parties can decide what should be dealt with first and then on the order of the other issues. In that sense, the parties to the dispute have a very, very important role to play in the arbitration process. This is not true in all cases, but it is one of the advantages. They also have a role to play in conciliation and other forms of alternative dispute resolution.”

According to Dr Bunni, the construction industry provides fertile ground for disputes.

“The potential for disputes is definitely very high. By its nature, it’s an industry where you are starting from scratch.

Drawings and specifications can be incomplete, a draftsperson can be wrong or miss something, and all the words of people can be taken to mean different things.”

He points out that disputes can often arise from a relatively simple disagreement.

“If it is not resolved quickly, it will become a claim. If the claim isn’t accepted, it will become a dispute. Disputes should be resolved as quickly as possible otherwise a lot of time and money can be consumed.

And, how you resolve disputes is a very important part of the construction industry.”

“Costs can be minimised by the parties agreeing on the process in advance,” he explains. “For example, it is possible for the parties to an arbitration to agree to a time limit for the process. That puts the onus on them to ensure that witnesses and other participants are available to take part in the hearings, of course.

“The most expensive part of arbitration is the hearing itself. If you can limit the time it takes, you can limit the costs. Arbitrators have a duty to act diligently and quickly, and cases can take a much shorter time than court cases if the parties concerned co-operate.”

Dr Bunni laments changes to the construction landscape in Ireland that have all but put an end to the use of arbitration in public works disputes.

“Arbitration has changed in Ireland, unfortunately, because of various conditions imposed on contractors by public works contract,” he says. “It has been a problem for a few years. It has made contractors bear the costs of arbitration even if they win. This is against all normal legal practices where costs follow the award. This has made arbitration effectively dead in Ireland for public works contracts. Contractors won’t venture into arbitration when they are exposed to potentially very high costs. Arbitration has lost its value in Ireland, and I don’t think it will recover unless the government takes action. I don’t know how this situation was dreamt up and accepted. It is completely unfair that the winner should bear the costs of an arbitration process. This has to be changed.”

And according to Dr Bunni, the use of arbitration for the resolution of privatesector construction disputes is also on the wane.

“In the private sector, conciliation has taken over from arbitration,” he points out.

“It suits the Irish mentality. In conciliation, the parties get together to work out a solution. Generally, they work out a solution that is acceptable to both of them and allows them to live with each other afterwards.

Arbitration has really lost its glamour as a result.”

The 3rd edition of Dr Nael Bunni’s ‘Risk and insurance in Construction’, co-authored with his daughter, Lydia Bunni BL and published

by Rutledge is available to purchase from Taylorandfrancis.com from March 2022.

irish construction news 27 February/March 2022

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S E C TO R F O C U S

Addressing staffing challenges in the construction sector

LIZ CARROLL, Network Manager, Construction Professionals Skillnet, writes it is essential that business managers have recruitment and staff retention programmes that enable them to plan projects with the confidence they will have the necessary human resources in place.

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onstruction is battling with a severe labour shortage. Not only does the sector not have the human resources to meet current project requirements, but with Project 2040 and the government’s retro-fit plan rolling out, even more skilled people and new skills will be required in the sector to achieve the planned outputs. To compound this, there are labour shortages in all sectors, and these are competing with construction for people with the same skills, particularly in engineering, project management and sustainability.

To make matters even more difficult, the industry is still dealing with Covid-19 and its impact on those available for work, as well as its effect on building supplies in Ireland and worldwide.

The current situation highlights the importance of effective planning and risk management. And while that may have mitigated the impact initially, long term, even that probably wasn’t enough.

The need for people with strong negotiation and communication skills has come to the fore more recently, as well as strong contractual knowledge and facilitating good relationships across supply chains.

What has also become apparent in the past two years is the ability to respond to the fast and ever-changing situation is vital. In essence, a wide variety of skills and competencies are required throughout your company. Not only do you need to plan materials and finance for projects, but you also need to be able to plan with confidence that the necessary human resources will be in place to deliver these projects while making a profit.

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO ATTRACT THE RIGHT STAFF TO WORK WITH YOU? WHAT IS YOUR UNIQUE SELLING POINT? In times of labour shortage, it is the applicant that has the power; the power to choose what is on offer or to reject it. It is not just the salary or role on offer, but the complete package that the candidate is assessing. What makes your offer to the candidate more attractive than what others are offering?

According to thought leader and author Daniel Pink, what motivates people is autonomy, mastery and purpose.

• • •

Liz Carroll, Network Manager, Construction Professionals Skillnet.

•

• •

Autonomy is described as the desire to lead your own life. This is contrary to the traditional view of management. Giving autonomy to employees ensures they are more involved in what they do.

Mastery is about wanting to improve. A sense of progress improves inner drive.

Purpose provides the highest level of motivational potential. Those with purpose are also motivated to tackle even the most complex problems.

However, without having a sense of belonging or being in the right place, none of the above will matter as the employee won’t stick around for long enough to be engaged, and the cost of recruiting them will be lost. This is where having a strong induction process and a clear equality, diversity and inclusion policy are central to bringing employees into the company, showing them their importance to the organisation and how they add value and are valued, and increasing the likelihood of attracting and developing a committed, productive, valuable employee.

WHAT TO DO Any business manager looking to attract and retain staff should ask themselves the following questions about their business.

•

programmes on offer other than compliance and mandatory training?

Do you have employee career paths set out and a clear route for progression?

Do you have an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion policy?

Do you have a comprehensive induction process?

Construction Professionals Skillnet courses are tailored to meet the needs of contracting, engineering and specialist subcontracting firms, and we can work with you to assess your operations to identify opportunities to improve the effectiveness of staff recruitment and retention programmes and advise on appropriate courses that could help contractors and engineers improve their recruitment and retention strategies.

If you need help with your induction process, career path planning or training and development planning, or to organise an assessment of needs, please get in touch with Liz Carroll, Construction Professionals Skillnet, at cpskillnet@cif.ie

The Construction Professionals Skillnet provides subsidised training for the construction industry.

The following are some of the courses that we offer.

–

– – –

Transform Your Business – Management Development programme for SME ownermanagers CIOB Cert/Diploma in Construction Site Management – For site managers and supervisors Lean Six Sigma – Green Belt IASSC Certified – Improve efficiencies in your area of work Introduction to Lean and Last Planner – How Lean is applied to construction projects

To learn more about these and other available courses, contact Liz Carroll at cpskillnet@cif.ie or visit www.cpskillnet.ie

Do you have training and development

irish construction news 29 February/March 2022

RESI9

Introducing Resi9: The Flexible, Safe and Easy to Install Consumer Unit

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utureproofing for sustainability is becoming a key requirement for residential projects and electricians need to be choosing products that meet the needs of homeowners, now and in the future. If you’ve been looking for a high-quality residential product with great board selection and lots of room to work with, you’ll want to get your hands on the new Resi9 consumer unit from Schneider Electric.

Resi9 comprises of an expanded enclosure system, which now includes 18 module wide surface mounted units, along with newly added flush mounted enclosures. Included in the new launch is a full suite of protective devices: MCBs, RCBOs, RCCBs and SPDs. The Resi9 range is the first end-to-end offer from Schneider Electric available in the Irish market, and it is a key steppingstone to the rollout of Schneider’s full suite of connected products for homes. The launch further cements Schneider’s position in Ireland as a Green Premium eco label, echoing the company’s commitment to delivering customer-valued sustainable performance.

Since February 2021, all new devices must be installed in compliance with the new standard, including fitting a Surge Protective Device (SPD). This component protects against electrical voltage spikes in alternating current circuits. A key feature of the Resi9 range is that it has combined protection, which means that surge protection is embedded within one single device instead of requiring two separate devices – making it smaller, more accessible, and quicker for electricians to install.

The new Resi9 range provides the following benefits: • Unrivalled time saving: The DIN rails can be easily removed and re-installed without the need for tools. Resi9 also comes with 35% more space under the rails than the average unit available in the market, giving better access for the electrician to install and manage cables. The Earth and Neutral terminal blocks are quickconnect push-in connections, further reducing the time to install.

• Adapted to the regulations: Resi9 addresses the requirements laid out by the new Irish Standards with systems testing carried out on the products to IS EN 61439-3, ensuring optimal user safety.

Donal Cronin, electrician at Cronin Electrical said: “As you would

30 irish construction news February/March 2022

expect from Schneider Electric, the build quality is really good. This is a high-quality product with greater board selection than was previously available.

The Resi9 enclosure has noticeably more room compared to other units on the market which makes it very easy to work with.”

Scan the QR code to learn more about Resi9

01 t 01 an . 1 pli I.S om C

Introducing Resi9 Flexible circuit protection, centred on making life safer, easier and more sustainable Features: •

Compliant with latest regulations I.S.10101

•

System certified to IS61439-3

•

SPD with embedded protection

•

Faster install with tool-less DIN rail removal and quick connect PE+N terminals

•

Green Premium certified

se.com/ie/resi9 irish construction news 31 February/March 2022

S E C TO R F O C U S

Visibility – the missing tool in construction’s big data project TOM NOCTOR, Strategic Product Consultant, Procore Technologies, writes big data is at once the biggest opportunity and greatest challenge facing the construction industry.

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rom cost-cutting to future planning, we are well aware of all that data can enable and empower. Yet, according to research from FMI, 95% of data collected in construction goes unused, and managers spend 13% of their time wading through a practically never-ending pit of information to find what they’re looking for.

The data we need most certainly exists, and we have the means of collecting it. But this is only half the battle – the rest is using it to its full potential. Because what’s being missed in this race to unlock all that data can offer construction is visibility. And that can only be enabled by one thing: the right technology.

USING THE RIGHT TOOLS FOR THE JOB

The ambitious nature of construction means that the projects and practices it undertakes will forever grow in scale and complexity.

And we now find ourselves at our time when the unprecedented

32 irish construction news February/March 2022

pace of digitisation has accelerated this rate of change. For instance, according to research Procore Technologies conducted in June 2020, over two thirds (68%) believed the ability to work remotely would be crucial for post-Covid operations, with working remotely being one of the top reasons managers implemented online collaboration and productivity tools.

Construction is an industry deeply rooted in technology and innovation, and it, therefore, has, by and large, a strong track record of adopting the right tools for the job. However, there is also a long history of inefficient practices leading to suppressed profitability.

When speaking to managers of UK&I construction companies, we found that nearly half (43%) have seen an increase in their overall efficiency and productivity, thanks to real-time insights. When it comes to implementing these data-driven insights across projects, construction companies are limited by a collection of small but

S E C TO R F O C U S

“Using data to achieve consistent and in-depth visibility into performance is the next great opportunity for construction.” common issues. Poor communication between all stakeholders, ineffectively scaling operations to meet the project’s requirements, inaccurate cost and project planning, and a very significant lack of performance-based reporting all form sizable hurdles to any forward progress.

And it’s that final issue, poor visibility into performance metrics, that is arguably the most damaging. Performance metrics and the insights they form provide vital readings on the health and success of any given project. Without them, you’re unable to identify issues in ongoing projects and miss the concrete evidence that determines what exactly is going wrong. Data provide learnings, and without those learnings, our ability to improve is very limited.

QUALITY, RELEVANCY, TECHNOLOGY

There are three key best practices that must be prioritised by any business looking to get the most out of its data.

Firstly, data quality. Simply put, if your data is not of high quality, your people will already know this and the confidence they place in it will be minimal. And low-quality data doesn’t only mean inaccurate, but incomplete and badly organised, too.

Secondly, real-time measurement. Your data may be high quality, but if it’s outdated, it’s not worth a great deal to you, especially in this ever-changing sector. Yet many within the sector seem determined to retain paper-based processes in this digital age, which is a huge blocker to the relevancy and accuracy of your data.

Lastly, but by no means least, recognising the value of a single platform. Construction projects are made possible by a huge array of stakeholders, yet this often comes at the high cost of duplicated communications, inaccurate information and limited transparency.

Single data platforms act as a centralised collaboration hub for all to input and access data and information, regardless of location or hardware.

Of course, in a post-pandemic world dominated by remote working, the benefits of such a solution have only become more critical. We found that 29% of Procore users surveyed experienced improved communication for a remote workforce - a vital ingredient to keeping hybrid working a possibility.

NOT ALL PLATFORMS ARE CREATED EQUAL

Platform technology in the construction industry is enabling increased efficiency, productivity and workforce safety. Yet as its popularity rises, so does market saturation; with more service providers comes evolved customer wants and needs. And as margins tighten, owners and contractors are rightly keen to identify the value-

add of vendors they choose to partner with.

Software user-friendliness, customer support, training, assistance with rollout and adoption, and the depth of third-party integrations have quickly become key differentiators as construction companies invest in platform technology.

The value of a single platform capable of integrating with a wideranging library of other tools was a clear priority for Procore client Conack. One of Ireland’s leading construction companies, Conack, faced the challenge of managing over 20 major projects while its staff were heavily restricted by nationwide lockdowns.

While the pandemic has created challenges with site accessibility, Procore’s integration with Evercam has made an enormous difference for Conack, enabling managers to stay connected across all activities, even when working from different locations. The feature provides Conack with the ability to view what’s happening on their sites in real-time. For instance, if there’s a big concrete pour going on in their Cherrywood project, their quantity surveyor or several other people on the project can log into Procore and use Evercam to see the pour happening on-site.

When asked why Procore stood out, Conack CDE Manager, Brid Mullane, emphasised the value of a single view: “The real beauty of Procore is that we don’t have to log into several apps or different solutions. We can view what’s going on at any one of the sites, and it’s all on one platform.”

Conack isn’t the only company feeling this benefit either, with 85% of Procore users saying the platform improved their field-to-office communication.

THE POWER OF VISIBILITY

We know the cost of poor visibility, and we know that effective visibility is enabled by single platform technology, but why is it so powerful in the first place? Again, we have three standout points.

First up, visibility drives confidence. Like with any task in any industry, full transparency between you, your work and the stakeholders around you can increase their confidence in your ability to deliver – providing that you do a good job, of course.

Visibility also improves decision making, simply because decisions that are rooted in strong evidence are better decisions. If you’re armed with high-quality data, it’s much more likely that new and existing projects will be more successful.

Finally, visibility empowers your ability to identify risks; a regular view of your data helps you identify potential risks and adjust plans accordingly. Risks that transform into reality are always chief culprits when projects go over budget and beyond deadline. 84% of Procore

irish construction news 33 February/March 2022

S E C TO R F O C U S

users told us that our platform gives visibility into the health of their projects, which in turn can help ensure that risks are spotted early and hardly ever materialise as a result.

THE RIGHT TECHNOLOGY EMPOWERS PEOPLE – AND ENCOURAGES THEM TO STAY

Utilising data more effectively will help the construction industry supercharge its productivity and efficiency. Seven out of 10 specialty contractors say Procore has helped them improve labour productivity in the field, whilst 76% of owners say that Procore has helped them to identify areas for improvement on their projects.

The impacts that effective data and insights can have on a business’s bottom line are significant and will always be at the forefront of the conversation. Compliance, quality and safety are also empowered by the visibility of real-time data, and they should all be held in the same regard in today’s world – as should environmental sustainability.

There’s huge pressure on construction to find greener routes forward, and adopting technology that enables the capture of key environmental data is critical to staying ahead. With less than 1% of construction projects currently evaluated for the scale and source of carbon emissions generated during their lifespans, those that make the right technological investments now will most definitely stand out.

What we can’t underestimate but often do, is the impact visibility into high-quality data can have on people. In today’s climate, with the skills shortage in the industry continuing to be a real challenge for all, those who understand that putting the right technology in the hands of users is key to attracting skilled workers will succeed.

16% of construction professionals we surveyed said that since using Procore their employee retention has gone up, whilst 14% said it has even helped with talent acquisition.

Ineffective solutions could lead to your business losing its best talent, but effective technology could be a key reason why your best people stay and encourage others to join. This is why platform technology should be as inclusive as possible – a solution that alienates the older generations in your workforce will likely see your most experienced people become less effective and consider moving on. The right technology should enable workers to focus their time and energy on what they do best, their craft.

34 irish construction news February/March 2022

THE NEXT GREAT DIFFERENTIATOR

Using data to achieve consistent and in-depth visibility into performance is the next great opportunity for construction. Yet digesting and accurately using data is one of the greatest challenges for construction managers as they embrace digitisation; without accurate data, managers are unable to create a more productive, safe and efficient project environment.

In one of the toughest industries to work in – one defined by complexity, huge ambition, constant uncertainty and high risk – what’s needed to unlock the full potential of data is platform technology dedicated to construction and construction alone that prioritises collaboration among all stakeholders, ease of use, and acting as a single source of truth.

FIVE WAYS PROCORE BOOSTS PRODUCTIVITY 1. Improving data quality – Procore’s platform helps make your data more complete, up-to-date and easily recorded.

2. Driving positive culture – Procore’s easy-to-use construction software speeds connection, streamlines workflows and keeps your team on track.

3. Boosting staff confidence – By improving transparency between staff and the work they produce, Procore helps to increase the business’s confidence in your people’s ability to deliver.

4. Enabling better decision making – Having your data on one platform empowers your business to make smart and savvy decisions based on the complete project picture.

5. Helping to identify issues sooner – Procore’s platform helps you to identify potential risks before they become bigger problems.

irish construction news 35 February/March 2022

ADFIL

Adfil – the largest and oldest concrete fibre company you have probably never heard of...

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he roots of Adfil as a specialist fibre manufacturer to the concrete industry date back to 1985, when a Danish company started manufacturing polypropylene monofilament fibres.

Through a merger with a UK manufacturer, dedicated to exactly the same thing, ADFIL was born at the end of the 1990’s and under the radar, has been supplying construction fibres to the Irish market ever since via distribution partners. After being 15 years as part of a multinational group, 3 years ago Adfil was sold off to a private investor and is now a fully independent manufacturer of the widest range of construction fibres on the international market.

The important thing to remember about Adfil is that we are manufacturers of premium quality products, not just a company that rebrands random products from around the world. We actually manufacture them in our own facilities in Belgium and under license in the UK, so we know exactly what we are selling to our customers – the highest performing fibres at the lowest dosages!

Being a manufacturer also gives us unique market advantages: we can change the make up of our fibres, depending on the characteristics required, which has lead us to produce a best in class macro fibre for flooring and precast concrete applications (DURUS EASY FINISH), which was designed with a specifically blended mix of polymers and embossed pattern to enable the fibre to not only give the highest level of technical performance, resulting in the lowest dosage of fibres per cubic metre of concrete on the market, but also at 40mm it mixes superbly and in a reference to its name, it is hardly ever visible on the surface.

Adfil of course started off in the field of micro fibres, both the ultra fine micro fibres, which were first of all used in industrial floors to control plastic shrinkage cracking, but were later developed into

36 irish construction news February/March 2022

a sophisticated blend of fibres known as Fibrin XT, which impart significant increases in impact and abrasion resistance, as well as hugely improved freeze-thaw resistance, in addition to 100% plastic shrinkage crack control, which no other fibres can achieve!

The other side of the micro fibre business is the fibrillated, sheet fibres, which are used in screeds, mortars and renders. Over the years Adfil has used its specialist industry know-how of manufacturing fibres to develop a wide range of fibres, that when added to a render for example, will allow it to spread more evenly upon a substrate (reducing waste) and when hardened, will prevent cracking and give many years of resistance to impacts from family activities, such as bike handle scrapes, ball games and general wear and tear of every day life.

In addition to having all the benefits of being an authentic manufacturer, Adfil has been able to bring together a team of genuine fibre experts, a team of people who do nothing other than work in the field of fibres in concrete. Having spent the last 22 years in the field of fibre concrete and contributed to many different specialist forums and having spoken at numerous international conferences and published countless papers on the subject, Garry Martin, based in County Down, is now bringing all that wealth of technical and practical hands-on experience to customers across the market in Ireland.

Please do not hesitate to contact Garry if you are interested in getting one of our free of charge designs that come with PI Insurance of €2,000,000 (unique to the Irish market) and if we can’t help you save time and money on your next job, by taking away steel mesh – nobody can!

Reinforced concrete reinvented

Garry Martin Major Projects Manager M +44 (0) 7803 239 532

ADFIL

WE MEET ALL YOUR FIBRE CONCRETE NEEDS – micros, macros and steel fibres, as well as PI Insured design and technical assistance across the whole of Ireland.

Garry Martin, gm@adfil.com, M +44 (0) 7803 239 532

For more information visit www.adfil.com irish construction news 37 February/March 2022

S E C TO R F O C U S

Leading through innovation

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ing & Moffatt, which employs over 400 people, provides its clients with a full cradle-to-grave service package to meet all of their mechanical, electrical, process and maintenance needs. As an early adopter of BIM, the mechanical and electrical engineering contractor introduced many clients to how BIM can streamline the delivery of complex engineering and construction projects. As a result, it is recognised as a project partner by many of those clients, joining projects at concept stage and providing services throughout facilities’ entire life cycles on sites all over Europe.

been a very exciting time for the M&E sector, and King & Moffatt has grown with our clients. Our business model has evolved to a position where we have become project partners with clients from initial concept through to the commissioning, monitoring and maintenance of their facilities.

“Today, we are invited on to projects at concept stage by clients because we have shown them that we have a clear understanding of what their project goals and deliverables are, and we provide an integrated range of mechanical, electrical, fire and security, design, construction, and maintenance packages.”

STRATEGIC PLAN

A DATA-DRIVEN BUSINESS

King & Moffatt’s senior management team measures King & Moffatt’s success in terms of its clients’ successes. As part of a five-year strategic plan launched in 2016, it focused on markets where it was strongest, such as food, logistics, life sciences, manufacturing and data centres, and it established an internal structure that gave it the capacity to meet clients’ changing project and plant maintenance needs.

Group Chief Operating Officer Brendan Sweeney explains: “The past few years have

38 irish construction news February/March 2022

Sweeney says that the contractor has been building its BIM capabilities since about 2015 and has always been evangelical about it.

“We have led from the front with BIM. We could see from the start the huge difference this would make to project efficiency and cost reduction. We have a strong BIM capacity and aim to have where possible all of our projects fully designed and clash coordinated before starting on site, regardless of this being a requirement for the

BRENDAN SWEENEY, COO, King & Moffatt, speaks with Robbie Cousins about innovation and how the Leitrim-based firm has become a go-to partner for complex engineering projects across Europe.

Brendan Sweeney, COO, King & Moffatt. project.”

An early example of the contractor’s BIM evangelicalism was its proposed BIM modelling of a project to a client who had not considered BIM as an option at that stage.

“Because of the relationship we had built up with the client and their trust in our

S E C TO R F O C U S

Do & Co food production facility, Heathrow, England.

look forward to bringing that same energy to our further digital transformation as well as using it to help our clients make their plants and operations more sustainable.”

Brendan Sweeney adds that King & Moffatt is lucky to have a strong digital team in place.

“Our team is very passionate about digital innovation. Our design manager Padraic King’s passion and knowledge feeds back into the company. We have digital capabilities in the company, such as Scanto-BIM, which help us distinguish ourselves from our competitors. We are also investing in training, software and expertise to make the most of data analytics and become a data-driven business. Digitalisation is essential to staying competitive within our industry. We are seeing greater volumes of data than ever before, we have many different software systems, and we understand the need to bring together data across from all areas to work together more effectively.”

FUTURE VISION

Do & Co, Heathrow. judgement, they agreed to let us develop a full BIM model of their project. We took all of the architect’s and other engineers’ designs and built the model. We then coordinated the assessments of the model.

This completely changed how the project proceeded, as each team member began to see the benefits of our approach. On completion, the client and project team were able to say that it was the first job that they had so few issues on. There was one clash with the refrigeration. When we reviewed it, we discovered that the installer hadn’t completed the work according to the model.

From that point on, that client has wanted the modelling done up-front on every project since.”

Today, King & Moffatt can provide the best value when it joins projects at the concept stage.

“We can build a BIM model from the concept. By the time projects get to site, they are fully designed and clash coordinated. As a result, there are no direct project delays, greater efficiencies are achieved, and cost

issues don’t arise with contractors.

“In 2021, as part of our new five-year strategic plan, we made the decision with our in-house design team to move all of our projects to BIM regardless of the requirement. This has delivered clear benefits to projects from a programme and prefabrication perspective and has helped clients in their decision to make the transition.”

DIGITAL INNOVATION

King & Moffatt was recently recognised with two awards at the Sisk Supply Chain Awards 2021 in Dublin. It received the awards for the “Supply Chain Partner of the Year (Ireland East)” and the “Digital Project Delivery Award”.

Sweeney adds that digital innovation is a key part of the contractor’s strategy and has been for a long time.

“We are an innovative contractor that has recently added BIM 360 into our operations, joining our already embraced new technologies, such as BIM, VR and AR. We

As part of its strategic development, in recent years, King & Moffatt established two subsidiary companies, King & Moffatt Connected and King & Moffatt Offsite, which have enabled it to further develop relationships with clients by taking greater control of its supply chain at the project conception stage.

“King & Moffatt Connected provides design, maintenance, energy engineering, controls and small works services to our clients,” Brendan Sweeney explains. “It furthers our strategic aim of nurturing key client relationships by equipping us with the ability to provide earlier engagement at concept and design stage, as well as ongoing services to client facilities through our maintenance and small works offering.

“King & Moffatt Offsite delivers offsite prefabricated MEP solutions to our contracting businesses day-in day-out in Ireland, the UK and mainland Europe.

We have 26,000 sq feet of dedicated offsite prefabrication and manufacturing space in Carrick-on-Shannon, as well as training rooms for first-year apprentice off-the-job training (introduction to M&E Construction), annual enhanced off-thejob apprentice training (2nd, 3rd, and 4th years), internal quality and health and safety training. Our offsite MEP solutions improve the speed of delivery, safety, and quality.

The advantages of offsite include efficiency, a safer, more controlled work environment and less waste.”

MARKET DEVELOPMENT

King & Moffatt’s client list is a “who’s who” of FDA companies and tier-one contractors operating throughout Europe. In addition to its head offices and offsite manufacturing

irish construction news 39 February/March 2022

S E C TO R F O C U S them, and we followed, developing European operations with an initial focus on Germany and the Netherlands. We are currently looking at Belgium and the Nordic countries for opportunities and have been pricing work in these markets.”

King & Moffatt is also focused tightly on a number of sectors.

“We do the vast majority of our work in chosen key sectors - food, logistics, life sciences, manufacturing and data centres.

This was a deliberate decision, as we have been able to bring great experience in these areas, and our clients know that we can deliver for them.”

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

CGI render of a new state-of-the-art food manufacturing hub that will utilise new technologies to improve efficiency and reduce the carbon footprint of food production. For King & Moffatt client SmartParc.

facility in Carrick-on-Shannon, King and Moffatt has local operations in the United Kingdom, Germany and the Netherlands. It has expanded rapidly into mainland Europe, which will become an even more important market in the coming years.

Alexander Stadium, Birmingham.

40 irish construction news February/March 2022

“Our strategy is to enter new geographical sectors to work with existing key clients,” Brendan Sweeney says. “When our partners decided to grow their operations in mainland Europe, for reasons such as Brexit, they wanted us working alongside

Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, King & Moffatt would have been the first port of call for any ambitious engineering professional, construction professional, or tradesperson relocating to the northwest of the country.

The company has always invested heavily in ensuring staff are up to date on the latest technologies and processes and have confidence that King & Moffatt offer them clear routes to advancement.

“King & Moffatt is a great place to work.

We are an exciting company with a lot of international growth and opportunities.

We are consistently involved in high-profile projects, such as the Alexander Stadium re-development, SmartParc, Derby, (a new state-of-the-art campus-style food manufacturing hub that will address sustainable food production for the future), DO & CO Heathrow (a world-class food production facility for which we have been nominated in the International category in the Irish Construction Excellence Awards 2022), and Centre Parcs, Longford

S E C TO R F O C U S Center Parcs, Longford.

Center Parcs, Longford.

Forest, which many potential construction professionals would be very interested in being part of.”

King & Moffatt recently undertook a survey of its employees, and the results back were very positive.

“People enjoy working with their colleagues and feel their efforts are appreciated,” Brendan Sweeney continues.

“One of the most important things is a good atmosphere and environment to work in.

“By ensuring King & Moffatt is a great place to work, we have over 400 directlyemployed personnel, and the team is growing all the time. We are a services business; our people are our business, and that is something we never lose sight of.”

King & Moffatt is just about to launch a new programme that will present any recruit, apprentice or junior professional with a roadmap to a successful lifetime career within the company, where they can measure

how they are progressing and know precisely what they have to do to succeed.

Brendan Sweeney says that they are very excited about the roadmap, but with huge skills shortages in the market, all any contractor can do at the moment is to ensure that their teams are happy and well looked after. He adds that while the government and Solas have been supporting the sector, there is another fix that government could make to help address skills shortages at this time.

“Experienced, skilled workers and professionals are in a strong place if they decide to jump ship from one firm to another. But this is driving up costs at a time when the sector is experiencing unprecedented cost inflation. However, if the period required to process visas for overseas workers could be reduced, this would go a considerable way to filling that skills gap. It is incredible that under the existing process, it can take up to 20 weeks for a visa to be

granted. This makes it near impossible to get the right people, as by the time the process is completed, the candidate has been granted a visa to work in another European country.”

Brendan Sweeney comments that the Irish M&E sector has weathered well through the Covid-19 pandemic. While there are ongoing supply chain and labour issues for the industry, he is optimistic about the coming years.

“There are huge opportunities with offsite prefabrication becoming the norm in the industry. Digital construction is also rapidly becoming standard for all projects. With the increased use of data and analytics software, VR and AR, the construction tech revolution is now well underway.

“We have ambitious plans for our King & Moffatt Connected and King & Moffatt Offsite operations. They are currently in relative infancy in comparison to where we see them in a few years, but they are already playing a strategically important role in the overall group.

“As an organisation, our decision to focus on a few sectors has meant we can more effectively meet the needs of our clients. We expect to break into a number of new European markets in the coming 18 months, and with this continue to expand our work base. Today, we carry out much of the monitoring and maintenance work for our clients from our base in Carrick-onShannon. We are also prefabricating units for distribution across Europe at our offsite facility. So, we are ready and look forward to the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead,” he concludes.

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A N A LY S I S

Heuston Masterplan – The 10-hectare site around Heuston Station is set to be transformed into a largely car-free, mixed-use development to include more than 1,000 residential units.

Housing for All – What land will be available for development and what type of projects will get built?

AOIFE BRENNAN, Director, Research & Consultancy, Lisney, writes that Housing for All will, in time, have a positive impact, but some parts of the plan may have unintended negative consequences on viability and the supply of land.

A

t Lisney, we have been talking about the lack of housing supply for a decade now. Over that time, there have been many documents and policies launched, most with limited success for a variety of reasons - mainly due to the viability of the types of development required along with capacity constraints.

Comments on the slow delivery of homes have always been tempered within the context that “supply cannot come on stream overnight, it takes time”.

2021 brought more new housing policy and yet another big document produced in Housing for All, not to mention the changes included in various draft development plans, notably in Dublin city. Additionally, the Land Development Agency (LDA) Act was signed into law, setting it on a statutory footing to work with state bodies and local authorities to provide housing on publiclyowned lands.

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WHAT PROJECTS WILL FIT THE HOUSING FOR ALL MOULD?

Aoife Brennan, Director, Research & Consultancy, Lisney.

Despite all that has gone before it, I believe Housing for All is generally a good document and if many of the measures included are implemented, they will be impactful in time. However, there are also parts of Housing for All and the draft development plans that I do not agree with and which I believe will have unintended, negative consequences on viability and the supply of land to the market.

In line with the National Planning Framework (NPF) requirement for compact growth and development within or adjacent to the existing physical footprint of existing cities and towns (ie 40% nationally; 50% in cities, and 30% in other settlements), much of the development in the medium term will be focused on sites in or adjacent to city and town centres, and less so on greenfield sites.

A N A LY S I S

As the first project to be backed by the Land Development Agency, Shanganagh, Shankill, Co Dublin will deliver 597 homes, 300 of which will be cost rental.

For example, areas like the lands within the Heuston Station Masterplan in Dublin, the Cork Docklands, Colbert Station Quarter in Limerick and the Brewery Quarter in Kilkenny. For cites, this will generally mean apartment development in central areas and high-density schemes of houses, duplexes and apartments further out. It will also mean apartment development in many regional town centres across the country. As is widely known, much apartment development remains unviable – the SCSI’s report from just over 12 months ago, Real Cost of New Apartment Delivery, clearly shows the viability gaps that persist, particularly around medium- to higher-rise schemes (five to 15 storeys) suitable for the build-tosell (BTS) market. And in the past year, the gaps between cost and end-price are likely to have grown given the rise in construction and labour costs.

CITIES AND TOWNS FUNDS

In my view, the Croí Cónaithe funds (cities

and towns) are very positive proposals in Housing for All, particularly the cities fund. Given the unviable nature of most BTS apartment development, a fund to subsidise apartment building (up to 20% of the cost) in the five main cities once the units are made available to owner-occupiers is welcome.

The fact that it focuses on units that already benefit from planning grants and can start immediately and be completed by 2025 means a reasonable delivery timescale.

It should be noted that there are un-activated planning grants for an estimated 80,000 dwellings nationwide, with about half in Dublin. My only concern with the cities fund is that timelines will slip. A call for proposals from developers was due in late January but has still to be issued (at the time of writing in late February). It will be interesting to see what proposals are made, but I assume most will be for schemes in city centres and just edge of centre. While Dublin will greatly benefit from the fund, it is even

more positive for regional city centres where apartment development (all tenure types) is just not currently viable. Cork, in particular, could greatly benefit, albeit much of the recent planning grants in the city have been geared towards the build-to-rent market.

The Croí Cónaithe towns fund is also a positive step forward for housing delivery in towns around the country, where supply is perhaps even more constrained than in the cities. It will focus on the provision of serviced sites for people to build their own homes and will support the refurbishment of vacant properties. Over the pandemic, environment, social, governance (ESG) criteria have come into greater focus across all property market sectors, and it is evident that such considerations are growing in importance to all stakeholders in the built environment – from individuals occupying a home to investors in large commercial schemes. I think this towns fund not only addresses the environmental issues in terms of building new NZEB homes on serviced sites and reusing existing buildings, but also the social and wellbeing aspects in terms of sustainable communities within the footprint of towns. It will also assist in cutting down on one-off development further out of town centres (and the associated carbased transport required) while still giving homeowners the opportunity to design and build their own homes in a more rural setting. The fund will cater to the significant demands in most areas from locals, but it will also be positive for families relocating/ considering relocating due to more flexible working practices since the onset of the pandemic. Continued improvements in broadband connectivity and other infrastructure will also be a factor in the success. It is likely that both large and small

Cork Docklands.

irish construction news 43 February/March 2022

A N A LY S I S The Brewhouse, a new Grade A office building in the Abbey Quarter, Kilkenny city, has been fully transformed to cater for modern working, but maintains hints of its past life as a working brewery.

towns will benefit from new edge-of-town development and refurbishment of central derelict properties.

LAND DEVELOPMENT AGENCY

The establishment of the LDA is generally very welcome in the Irish property market, working to make more efficient use of state lands while also working with the private sector in a targeted way. With a firm focus on housing supply, its operation will undoubtedly impact on the lands that are developed in the coming years – with most lands owned by the state going towards residential use. An interactive map produced by the LDA shows specifically all of these lands. Logic suggests that the sites that will be the focus in the coming years and progress first will be the ones located in areas where housing is required most and where services and infrastructure are available, in addition to being viable to build. However, current use by the state body will also be a factor in how quickly the lands can be released. The types of homes built will vary, but it is likely that most will be in higher density schemes, again within or adjacent to city and town centres and in well-connected suburbs.

Flagship schemes are already identified, such as the former St Kevin’s hospital in Cork, Dundrum Central in Dublin, Devoy Barracks in Naas, and Shanganagh in Shankill, Co Dublin.

PROJECT TOSAIGH

In addition to its ongoing activities, the LDA will also take the lead role in Project Tosaigh; a large-scale affordable cost rental scheme

44 irish construction news February/March 2022

put forward in Housing for All. With such homes earmarked for those who do not qualify for social housing but cannot afford the private sector, tenants of future schemes will pay approximately one-third of their net disposable income on rent, reflecting a discount of about 25% on market rates. Cost rental will be permitted to be part of Part V affordable requirements, and we, in Lisney, believe within schemes where the majority of homes are owner-occupied, such a structure will be welcomed.

Finally, on the LDA, given its enhanced and significant future role in the Irish property market, particularly in city regions, and its access to funding, some private sector developers may decide to dedicate resources to developing social and affordable schemes for the agency. And while most will also still operate in the private sector, it may mean fewer private homes will be built.

Additionally, many state-owned lands that would have come to the market for sale to the private sector will not now do so and will be developed centrally. This brings with it positives and negatives for the overall property market.

DUBLIN CITY DEVELOPMENT PLAN

The Draft Dublin City Development Plan, due to be finalised by the end of the year, contains many measures relating to the type and location of housing in the coming years. The policies on the BTR sector are concerning; a general assumption against BTR schemes with fewer than 100 units but also an assumption against larger apartment schemes (>100 units) unless at least 40% of

them are BTS. I understand the theory of why such measures are proposed given how topical the BTR sector is in the public debate on housing, however as already stated, apartment development is generally unviable for mid-rise (as would be required in DCC’s administrative area) BTS schemes.

Institutional investor funding of BTR has ensured apartments were built in recent years. Without this, very few would have gotten off the ground. Requiring a large element of BTS in all apartment developments in the city will impact viability and funding opportunities. It may have the unintended consequences of no apartments being built unless they benefit from older permissions and can avail of the Croí Cónaithe Cities Fund – but these will dry up over the life of the development plan.

However, it is in our view positive that the Office of the Planning Regulator has written to Dublin City Council on the matter, making suggestions.

PROPOSED CHANGES TO Z15 INSTITUTIONAL LANDS

Also likely to affect the supply of land to the market in the coming years are DCC’s proposed changes to Z15 institutional lands where residential development is no longer a use open for consideration. Focusing solely on providing community use and social infrastructure on these lands will impact their saleability and, in certain areas, may result in lands not being brought to the market for sale, further impacting the supply of homes in these areas around the city where development was envisaged.

A N A LY S I S ZONED LAND TAX

Budget 2022 introduced a new Zoned Land Tax to replace the existing vacant site levy, but with a two-to-three-year lead-in time. It will apply to all lands zoned for residential and mixed-use that are serviced and will be levied by Revenue at 3% of market value per year. My main issue with this is that it will operate on a blanket basis and will ignore the multitude of reasons why lands remain undeveloped – viability, issues with title, access, contamination, flooding and other site-specific reasons. On the surface, it appears that lessons have not been learnt from the lack of success of the vacant site levy, which was at a higher rate of 7% in recent years – in the vast majority of cases, it is not owners just sitting on land but rather other factors holding back works. It also fails to recognise that developers require a constant supply of land. To reach a target of 33,000 housing completions per annum nationally, as set out in Housing for All, the housing market needs builders of scale, who can build several hundred, if not thousands, of homes a year. For developers to deliver these homes, they need a fully established operational platform, and to maintain this platform, they must have a continuous supply of land to move onto quickly. If they do not, this will further cause issues in

Located at the edge of Cork city centre and overlooking the River Lee, the former St Kevin’s Hospital on 14 acres is earmarked to provide 265 new homes. housing delivery, particularly in areas where the planning process is more complex and perhaps subject to lengthy delays with JRs etc. The new tax will need to take this into consideration.

WHAT PROJECTS WILL GET BUILT?

So, to answer my question at the start, what land will be available for development and what type of projects will get built? Recent policy changes will dictate this to a greater extent than ever before. There will be a clear focus on the existing urban footprint of cities and towns nationwide, which will result in greater density schemes across the board –

and higher costs. Apartment development, despite the viability issues, will become more prevalent (possibly with further assistance required), and fewer homes with gardens will be built (despite being in the greatest demand as people want more space since Covid).

That said, Lisney’s Development Land sales and acquisition team are inundated with requirements for greenfield sites, with planning permission, suitable for traditional semi-detached and detached homes. I think this mismatch will remain in 2022 but in the more medium-term will need to evolve – but viability will be the greatest difficulty.

irish construction news 45 February/March 2022

OPINION

The perils of beginning work without agreeing the precise basis upon which it is to be done

HENRY HATHAWAY writes that in an environment where adjudications are becoming more popular and are in the main being enforced, construction companies should avoid court proceedings unless required as a last resort.

T

here has been a considerable amount written about adjudication in Ireland over the past number of years. And now, most certainly, that some decisions are arriving before the courts in order for those decisions to be enforced, we might consider that adjudication has the required teeth to be truly effective. A recent judgement in January 2022 in John Paul Construction Limited v Tipperary Co-Operative Creamery Limited [2022] IEHC 3 furthers the court’s propensity to enforce an adjudicator’s decision except in only the most limited of cases. This follows from the previously heard cases of Principal Construction Limited v Beneavin Contractors Limited [2021] IEHC 578 and Aakon Construction Services Limited v Pure Fitout Associated Limited No 1 [2021] IEHC 562. Previously, it might have been said that without these types of judgements, then would it be the case that adjudication

46 irish construction news February/March 2022

might have been toothless? However, what is clear now is that the very principles of “pay now, litigate later” are being consistently adopted, and the judgements of Mr Justice Garrett Simons are reasoned and detailed and follow many of the ratios and precedents that have been adopted in the courts of England and Wales. This makes complete sense given that adjudication has been in effect since 1996 in that jurisdiction, and the writer is involved in some 10 to15 adjudications yearly on average in the UK.

PROPENSITY FOR ADJUDICATION The question is this, will construction in Ireland now arrive at a point where any issue of contention will immediately descend into an area where a parties dispute is inevitably bound to end up in these types of proceedings? After all, it is extremely quick and potentially attractive in order to gain

redress of payment. It may be an interim binding decision until the matter is finally resolved by arbitration or formal litigation, but then the experience of the writer suggests that these proceedings, in fact, are less likely to be pursued eventually.

In terms of whether or not there is likely to be a higher propensity towards adjudication or not will depend on a number of factors. The predominant question is answered by way of whether or not a party has a developed mindset towards active dispute avoidance in the first place. The central ground here is whether or not there is a clear agreement between the parties and how it has been recorded. Construction in Ireland has a mixed record of the quality of agreements that are in place. However, those who do not set out the agreements with clear terms will need to keep in mind the following point, if a dispute arrives in

OPINION This is a significantly large area of construction law. However, what is clear is that if there is a dispute under a contract, the starting point will be to ascertain what, in fact, the parties agreed and what terms were incorporated.

The key message must be that in an environment where adjudications are becoming more popular and are being enforced but for minor exceptions, then the onus ought to be for construction companies to avoid these proceedings unless required to engage as a last resort. There are clear good reasons for a company to adopt a dispute avoidance mentality, which as a topic is larger than this article can particularise fully.

However, whatever the case, be it in formal dispute resolution and/or negotiations, the key issue and starting point will be to ensure that the agreement contains the necessary terms, which may be required to be relied upon at a later stage. This is the first and perhaps most important stage in order to adopt a dispute avoidance ethos and potentially save on costs in the future.

front of an adjudicator, arbitrator or judge, then the first question will be what the terms of the contract were and had the parties agreed on those essential terms, and, if so, is there any reason to depart from such terms?

Courts or other tribunals are simply not there to make a bad bargain a good one, they will simply give effect to the terms that the parties agreed upon.

AGREE FIRST, START WORK LATER

This is an area of construction law that is rife with precedent and case law. To give an understanding of the pitfalls of not having a properly particularised agreement in place, one must only look towards RTS Flexible Systems Limited v Molkerei Alois Muller Gmbh & Company KG [2010] UKSC 14.

This was a Supreme Court case that had progressed through the courts from the High Court through to the Court of Appeal to eventually the Supreme Court. The central issue was on the Letter of Intent between the parties and the effect of the terms. Critically, in paragraph one of the judgement, it stated: “The different decisions in the courts below and the arguments in this court demonstrate the perils of beginning work without agreeing the precise basis upon which it is to be done. The moral of the story is to agree first and to start work later.”

If only it were so easy. However, the reader must bear in mind the costs that would have been associated with this eventual process, the effects that it has on the development of the business, the damage that can be done and the costs involved both in legal fees and the costs of resources provided by a construction company’s staff.

There are a plethora of cases that involve disputes where the very basis of an agreement is in dispute itself, and this is an area that is rife for disputes. It is not unusual for parties to have competing terms, one, say, on a standard tender return, which may or may not be in conflict with those of the employing party. It is still a common feature where procurement departments of construction companies issue PO’s or purchase orders with terms that are bare. This is further complicated by the procurement process within many companies as the pressures of the rough and tumble of delivering a project overrides any formalities.

An example of such was in the case of British Steel Corporation v Cleveland Bridge & Engineering Co Limited (1981) 24 BLR 94.

This related to the construction of a bank in Saudi Arabia and involved the negotiation of steel nodes. Work commenced on the back of a letter of intent. No contract was ever signed because the parties could not agree on the sequence of the delivery of the nodes.

Quite fundamental, the reader might think.

These cases can be fact-specific and differing

Henry Hathaway, Principal, Henry Hathaway Solicitors.

“Courts or other tribunals are simply not there to make a bad bargain a good one, they will simply give effect to the terms that the parties agreed upon” courts may have differing views on the nature of the agreements depending on the facts of the case.

Henry Hathaway is a solicitor who practises in Ireland, England and Wales and specialises in construction law. He is a qualified civil engineer and spent 12 years working in the industry. He advises on contract formation and provides practical advice when entering construction contracts, and regularly provides training and seminar days to companies to assist knowledge and application in order to assist them in avoiding disputes in construction. If you require further information in relation to contract formation or would like to discuss training and development in this area, contact henry.hathaway@hathawaysolicitors.ie This is one in a series of articles by Henry Hathaway for Irish Construction News, to read previous articles, visit www.constructionnews.ie/henry-hathawayopinion-claim-for-payment-under-aconstruction-contracts/ or scan the QR code.

Disclaimer: This content is provided for information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. It is provided to present information to the broader construction industry and provide awareness. Independent legal advice should always be sought prior to application, and no solicitor/client relationship is formed, and no duty of care nor liability arises from any of the contents of this article.

irish construction news 47 February/March 2022

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OPINION

JOHN FFF O’BRIEN writes that a big part of being Irish is operating with a sense of ‘fair play’, and we instinctively know that ‘the line’ has been crossed.

“Arbitration is a formidable arena for final and binding dispute resolution and should never be misunderstood as some kind of step before litigation”

John FFF Brien, Principal, John Farage O’Brien Ltd, Dispute Resolution & Legal Support Consultants.

irish construction news 49 February/March 2022

OPINION

P

arties, before they fall into a dispute, believe that they understand most if not all of the facts on the matter and that they either possess or can procure most of the evidence that proves those facts, and that the applicable law will support their position of either entitlement or denial.

This level of certainty is measured against a party’s predisposition to risk, and that triggers a decision to go to dispute.

REACHING A LIGHT BULB MOMENT

However, in my experience, either party knowing all the facts at the outset of a dispute is seldom if ever the case. Parties will always share a commonality of some of the facts at the start of the process, but invariably each possesses information that the other does not. The objective of every dispute resolution process is to tease out that missing information by one form of pleading or another until all of the facts and supporting evidence are set neatly out on a table, allowing them to be objectively considered and tested by a third-party neutral.

When the dispute process reaches this final point, or more practically, as and when new important information unfolds and becomes known along the way to reaching that point, typically one or both of the parties experiences a “light-bulb moment”, which completely changes their exposure to risk, and parallel avenues are sought to stop the onslaught of costs in pursuing or defending a case that will likely be lost. Being aware and remaining alive to the risks that unfold with information exchanges is the key to sensible early commercial settlements.

Lest there be any doubt, costs incurred in resolving construction disputes in arbitration are very significant [as they are in litigation] and include costs of consultants, barristers, solicitors, expert witnesses, the arbitrator, discovery, stenography, accommodation,

50 irish construction news February/March 2022

management time and expenses [the list goes on and on]. Indeed, over my 20 years in ADR, I have experienced significant construction arbitrations where the monthly ‘burn’ costs for the claimant ranged between €100,000 to €350,000, (and the respondent’s cost was reciprocated) and these cases took two to three years to complete.

When a party wins on the substantive issue, the normal rule in Ireland is that its ‘costs follow the event’. This risk that the ultimate loser will pay both parties’ costs at the end of the arbitration keeps this monthly “cost burn versus live risk” dynamic alive and that proactively encourages an early resolution of a dispute. It is this parallel process that forms an intrinsic part of successful commercial arbitrations.

INEQUITABLE REVISION TO THE PWC

In early 2021, I published a paper titled The Perfect Storm, and I remain humbled that it was picked up by the esteemed Dr Nael Bunni, who referred to it at length in his international presentation to the Dispute Resolution Board Foundation (DBRF) on 04 March 2021.

In that paper, I referred to an “inequitable revision” that was incorporated by the Office of Government Procurement (OGP) into the Irish Public Works Contract Tender & Schedule in FTS revision v1.4 on 28 July 2011 at the height of the recession, which remains unamended today. That revision reads as follows: “We also agree that should a dispute arise under any contract formed by acceptance of this Tender that is referred to arbitration, to the extent permitted by law, under the Arbitration Act 2010 and a sealed offer has not been made, or where a sealed offer has been made, and the contractor’s award is greater than the sealed offer (footnote 4), then

each party will bear their own costs in relation to the arbitration proceedings.”

(Footnote 4): If an award is equal to or less than the sealed offer, the Contractor is liable for the costs of both parties in relation to the arbitration proceedings.

This ‘agreement’ set out in the Tender & Schedule of the Contract stipulates that the default position is that each party pays their own costs in arbitration, even if they win (ie, costs do not follow the event).

It also provides an option that if the Employer decides to make a sealed offer to the Contractor (normally made early on in the process) and then at the end of the arbitration the Contractor does not get awarded a sum greater than the amount in that sealed offer, the Contractor pays all the Employer’s Costs.

This, however, is not reciprocated. If the Contractor’s award from the Arbitrator is greater than the sealed offer made by the Employer, then instead of the Contractor getting their costs paid by the Employer, they still pay their own costs. In other words, the Irish government will never pay a Contractor’s legal costs on a public works contract, and this crosses a line.

This is NOT playing by the usual rules, and it is certainly not “fair play”.

THE GENERAL RULE SUPERIOR COURTS RULES: ORDER 99 RULE 1(IV) 13.2

“The costs and expenses of an adjudication shall, unless the legal costs adjudicator for special reason to be stated in their determination otherwise directs, follow the event.”

“The Importance of this general rule was recognised by Clarke J in Veolia Water UK plc v Fingal County Council (No 2) [2006] IEHC 240, [2007] 2IR81,85”

OPINION “The overriding starting position should remain that costs should follow the event.

Parties who are required to bring a case to court in order to secure their rights are, prima facie, entitled to the reasonable costs of maintaining the proceedings. Parties who successfully defend proceedings are, again prima facie, entitled to the costs to which they have been put in defending what, at the end of the day, the court has found to be unmeritorious proceedings.”

(Ref: Para 23-02 Page 720 of ‘Civil Procedure in the Superior Courts’ 3rd Edition Delany & McGrath) Why did the Office of Government Procurement (OGP) unilaterally decide in 2011 to break away from this general rule, which effectively denies a contractor access to an arbitrator’s decision on an Employer’s Representative’s (ER’s) determination that has been found to be unmeritorious? The OGP has done so to slant the table to its advantage, plain and simple.

Even so, when this amendment initially came in, the OGP left a gaping loophole in the 2009 PWC Arbitration Rule 19.1 that identified that “the costs of arbitration shall in principle follow the event” and the arbitrator may under 19.1.1. “allocate the costs between the parties in a manner the arbitrator considers appropriate.” However, they eventually closed that loophole in the 2014 Rules where sub-clause 6.4.1 states: “Unless the parties agree otherwise...” and thus this agreement mentioned earlier in the FTS Tender & Schedule now prevails.

To take a practical example of how the amendment to the general rule operates, if a contractor undertaking public works finds themselves having made a valid 10.3 claim for, say €250k, and is being capriciously denied of their entitlement by an ER’s determination, they are faced with the prohibitive option of spending €250k in legal, expert and arbitrator’s fees, where if they win their case their net recovery will be €ZERO. Contractors simply cannot afford to take a risk now of even getting a favourable award in arbitration, as their legal and expert costs will be offset against their recovery and will most likely dilute if not drown out the quantum of the substantive award.

CALDERBANK OFFERS AND PARALLEL MEDIATION

Arbitration is a formidable arena for final and binding dispute resolution and should never be misunderstood as some kind of step before litigation.

Arbitration is like litigation, as it allows for a full judicial process to be carried out but in private, where pleadings, evidence, discovery and hearings carry the full costs of litigation teams for both claimants and respondents.

In any dispute, risk can be categorised into: • ‘Known’ unknowns, and

‘Ireland, as a member of the EU and common market for EU tendering of public works projects above €5m, cannot allow inequitable provisions to remain in its Public Works Contracts.’

•

‘Unknown’ unknowns,

The known unknown risks unfold with an element of expectation, but it’s the unknown unknowns that can dramatically change a party’s risk profile at any stage during a dispute.

The initial risk profile is assessed before the decision is made to refer the matter to arbitration and this applies equally to both parties, and with it brings about the most effective of all dispute resolution tools, and that is the making of sealed offers to the other side. Known as Calderbank Offers, a Respondent will normally make a confidential offer with a short expiry time for acceptance by the Claimant early on in the process.

If the Calderbank Offer expires or is rejected by the Claimant, then after the Arbitrator makes his award on the substantive issue, say two years later, he will ask the parties if any Calderbank Offers were made.

The Arbitrator will then open the sealed offer and if the award to the Claimant is lower than the offer made, then the Claimant will be responsible for the costs incurred by the Respondent from the date of the offer. In other words, the Claimant did not improve their position and should have taken the offer two years ago and, because they have wasted all parties’ time, is penalised by having to pay for the other party’s (taxed)

costs. However, if the award is higher, then the Respondent pays all of the Claimant’s costs. This very sensible outcome is prohibited by the amendments to the Public Works Contract.

If the first Calderbank Offer made by the Respondent at the beginning of the arbitration is too low, it will not be accepted by the Claimant, and the arbitration proceeds, but so too does the increasing expenditure of costs on both sides.

Additional Calderbank Offers (and counter offers) are often made as the facts and the evidence unfold during the pleading and discovery process, and this concurrent background process continues between the parties sealed out of sight from the Arbitrator.

The most experienced practitioners will be only too aware that many arbitrations do not go all the way to final award, but rather are settled in a parallel confidential mediation process.

Having the risk of paying costs that follow the event in arbitration forces the parties to really think about their decisions and determinations during a project because those decisions may one day come under scrutiny by an arbitrator.

The risk of costs against a losing party obliges all parties to undertake their obligations with professional precision, and this fosters an environment to reward future generations of construction professionals building Irish public works projects using best practice because currently, it does not.

FAIR PLAY

If an Irish government ER has determined pro tem that a Contractor is not entitled to an adjustment to the Public Works Contract sum, then there should be a judicial process where the Contractor can challenge that determination, safe in the knowledge that if successful in his challenge he will be able to recover their costs from the Irish government Employer. This doesn’t happen in adjudication either, where both parties bear their own costs.

Ireland, as a member state in the EU and of the common market for EU tendering of public works projects above €5m, cannot allow inappropriate and inequitable provisions to remain in its Public Works Contracts.

Ireland’s international reputation for ‘fair play’ is better than this, and we really must address this problem now.

John FFF O’Brien January 2022 Contact John FFF O’Brien, Principal, John Farage O’Brien, Dispute Resolution & Legal Support Consultants, by phone at 086 803 4330, email: info@johnfarageobrien.ie, or visit www.johnfarageobrien.ie

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S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y

Construction and the built environment emissions must be addressed together to

achieve carbon neutrality

In the first of a series of articles on whole-life carbon in construction and the built environment, MARION JAMMET, Head of Policy and Advocacy, IGBC, sets out why the national carbon emissions reduction targets for the built environment will not be achieved through operational emission reductions alone.

Marion Jammet, Head of Policy and Advocacy, IGBC.

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he housing and the climate crisis are two of the main challenges facing our society. Based on population growth projections, half a million homes must be built in Ireland by 2040. Last summer, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s sixth assessment report highlighted once again that climate change was widespread, rapid, and intensifying.

The scientists who authored the report called for strong, quick and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions to stabilise the climate. This requires all sectors of the economy to fully decarbonise by 2050. As national carbon budgets are being considered in the Oireachtas, this article looks at the current impact of the built environment and construction on Ireland’s emissions and the likely impact of our ambitious construction and retrofit programmes on these emissions.

ADDRESSING THE DATA GAP: THE IMPACT OF THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT ON IRELAND’S EMISSIONS

EU and global data show that the construction industry and the built environment are both resource and carbon-intensive. According to a 2019 World Green Building Council report, the entire construction process and operation of buildings are responsible for 39% of all

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carbon emissions globally. Yet, to date, the built environment’s impact on Ireland’s emissions has been poorly quantified.

In our national statistics, buildings-related emissions are associated with the use phase of buildings – ie, with the energy used to heat, cool, and light buildings. But there are emissions associated with all stages of a building life cycle, from raw materials extraction to product manufacturing, construction, and maintenance. To date, these embodied emissions have been included in other sectors, such as transport, industry, waste, and electricity generation, meaning the full impact of construction is not visible. As you can’t improve what is not measured, the Irish Green Building Council (IGBC) commissioned a detailed report from UCD’s Building in a Climate Emergency Research Group on this topic.

The Whole life carbon in construction and the built environment in Ireland report looks at the current impact of construction works on Ireland’s emissions and makes projections to 2030 based on the National Development Plan.

CARBON EMISSIONS ASSOCIATED WITH CONSTRUCTION AND THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT ACCOUNT FOR MORE THAN ONE-THIRD OF IRELAND’S EMISSIONS

According to the initial findings of the Whole life carbon in construction and the built environment in Ireland report, carbon emissions associated with construction and the operation of the Irish built environment account for more than a third of Ireland’s emissions (37%), the same as agriculture.

More specifically, the assessment shows that heating, cooling, and lighting our buildings account for 23% of our national emissions, with the remaining 14% being accounted for by embodied carbon. Embodied emissions result from mining, quarrying, transporting,

and manufacturing building materials, in addition to constructing buildings.

These findings are interesting as this is the first time embodied emissions have been measured in an Irish context. Furthermore, they highlight that the built environment is one of the largest contributors to Ireland’s emissions – much higher than was thought.

HOUSING AND INFRASTRUCTURE PLANS COULD SEE IRELAND EXCEED ITS 2030 BUILT ENVIRONMENT EMISSIONS TARGET BY OVER 300%

In 2021, the Climate Action Act enshrined into law the objective of halving Ireland’s emissions by 2030.

The initial projections developed by UCD researchers show that the decarbonisation of the grid, building regulations (NZEB standard) and the ambitious retrofit targets set in the Climate Action Plan (2021) should lead to a significant decrease in operational emissions by 2030. However, the programme will also result in high embodied carbon emissions in the area of renovations as a result of the materials used for renovation projects. Furthermore, the construction of all that is proposed in the National Development Plan (NDP) is projected to result in a built environment with over three times the carbon emissions of the targeted level by 2030 (51% reduction).

Interestingly, the initial assessment highlights the high impact of the roadbuilding programme contained in the NDP. According to the assessment, the embodied carbon for new roads construction would far exceed emissions for construction of any other types of infrastructure, including public transport infrastructure, schools, hospitals, and even infrastructure designed to decarbonise our electricity.

Ultimately, the research shows the national reduction targets for the built environment

S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y

“Carbon emissions associated with construction and the operation of the Irish built environment account for more than a third of Ireland’s emissions, the same as agriculture”

will not be achieved through operational emissions reductions alone and that embodied carbon must be addressed too.

DECARBONISING IRELAND’S BUILT ENVIRONMENT – NEXT STEPS

While most of the policy and industry focus to date has been on managing and reducing operational emissions, the publication of the draft report and quality data on embodied emissions is a first step in addressing the environmental impact of Ireland’s built environment across its whole life cycle.

With 500,000 new homes and significant pieces of infrastructure planned in the next two decades, taking a more holistic approach to climate action in the built environment is urgent.

In fact, these emissions will be released in the near-term horizon, and are both immediate and irrecoverable, ie, unlike operational carbon, embodied emissions cannot be mitigated during the working life of a building.

DECARBONISATION ROADMAP

The Whole life carbon in construction and the built environment in Ireland report will

inform the development of a roadmap to decarbonise Ireland’s built environment across its entire life cycle. The IGBC is currently developing the roadmap through extensive stakeholder engagement.

An initial set of recommendations was published in November 2021. This highlighted the need to develop a clear pathway and concrete actions to decarbonise the built environment and the construction industry. Preliminary recommendations included publishing a detailed timeline for mandating whole-life carbon assessment and limits through regulation to provide certainty to industry; streamlining building regulations and aligning all relevant policies and fiscal incentives to make adaptation and reuse of existing buildings easier; and mainstreaming innovative procurement approaches to help encourage and develop a low-carbon product sector, services, and supply chain.

As one of the largest contributors to Ireland’s emissions, the built environment has a vital role to play in achieving our emissions reduction targets. It is hoped that this new data will contribute to raising awareness about the urgency of addressing whole-life carbon in the built environment

and that the roadmap will act as a blueprint for policy and industry to decarbonise our sector.

#BUILDINGLIFE

The Whole Life Carbon in Construction and the Built Environment in Ireland report was published as part of the #BuildingLife campaign. The #BuildingLife campaign aims to achieve the mix of private-sector action and public policy necessary to tackle the whole-life environmental impact of buildings.

The draft report was produced by Richard O’Hegarty, Stephen Wall and Oliver Kinnane of UCD. A final report will set out the emissions associated with all aspects of construction, including renovation, with reference to the NDP and the Climate Action Plan. This will be published alongside an updated version of the recommendations in May 2022.

The draft Whole Life Carbon in Construction and the Built Environment in Ireland report and IGBC’s initial set of recommendations to decarbonise Ireland’s built environment are available at www.igbc.ie.

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S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y

Oonagh Reid, #BuildingLife Ambassador and Director, Arup.

Irish construction has the potential to be a sustainability pioneer Arup director and #BuildingLife ambassador Oonagh Reid speaks with ROBBIE COUSINS about the challenges and opportunities she believes the Irish construction sector is facing in helping Ireland meet carbon emission reduction goals up to 2030 and beyond.

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he Irish Green Building Council’s (IGBC’s) #BuildingLife campaign aims to achieve a broad range of private sector actions and public policy changes that will be required to tackle the whole-life environmental impact of buildings.

An integral part of the campaign is the appointment of #BuildingLife ambassadors. The role of these ambassadors is to champion #BuildingLife goals and help drive change around sustainability across the construction industry.

Speaking about her role as an IGBC #BuildingLife ambassador, Oonagh Reid says that one of the most appealing parts of being involved in the campaign is that it brings together diverse representatives from across the entire sector to find science-based and industry-backed solutions, such as the national decarbonisation roadmap for the built environment currently being produced.

“For Arup and for me personally, we are delighted to be part of this great opportunity to drive change in our industry and at national and European policy levels,” Reid comments. “The initial goal is to shift from the predominant focus on operational energy usage

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to addressing the total environmental impact of the construction process. It is a very exciting campaign to be a part of.”

ACHIEVING CROSS-SECTOR BUY-IN

Reid says that there has already been a substantial change within the sector around the awareness of the importance of looking at the whole lifecycle carbon impact of construction projects.

“It’s great to see ambitious targets for the reduction of operational energy being adopted and embraced by the sector. But perhaps even more exciting and challenging is to begin to add a new lens of embodied or whole life-cycle carbon to the design and delivery process. As an industry, we need to lead by example in pushing this – it needs complete cross-sector buy-in.”

As a company, Arup is taking steps to reduce carbon emissions in its own operations as well as through project work. Following a commitment in 2020 to achieve net-zero emissions across its entire operations by 2030, last year at COP26, Arup built on this by committing that from April of this year, it would begin to undertake

S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y

Miesian Plaza, Baggot Street, Dublin, first development in Ireland to be certified LEED Platinum v4. Image courtesy of Remley Unlimited Company.

high-level whole lifecycle carbon assessments globally for all of its building projects, both new and retrofit.

“We have been working hard to get a system in place that will allow us to gather data to an appropriate scale and useful levels of granularity. Then, we will be able to draw conclusions from the assessments in a standardised way. We hope that the insights gained from this will become an invaluable resource in helping clients to lower the carbon impact of their buildings, as well as furthering the industry’s understanding of carbon impacts on particular design decisions.”

data about the environmental impacts of construction products and the product lifecycle is important. We, as designers, are limited in the informed decisions we can take on the products we specify without this information.”

But she says that the current lack of embodied carbon data from many manufacturers is a fundamental barrier to being able to conduct accurate analysis. “Manufacturers providing transparent environmental information on products and materials used in our projects is a key step.”

ENVIRONMENTAL PRODUCT DECLARATIONS

Reid comments that it is reported that about 80% of the predicted building stock for 2050 already exists, so there is a significant challenge for the sector in terms of retrofitting, particularly in older building stock.

“There needs to be a greater emphasis on recognising the embedded value of our existing buildings. It is an area that must be made more attractive for investment. There can be challenges around refurbishing existing building stock in terms of physical constraints and compliance issues. But bring this challenge on. The onus is on us as professionals to work collectively to come up with innovative and exciting ways to reuse and enhance our existing building stock.”

Sharing one example of re-using as much of the existing buildings as possible, she mentions the Miesian Plaza office complex retrofit,

Environmental product declarations (EPDs) are a standardised way of providing data about the environmental impacts of a product through its lifecycle. In Europe, they must conform to the European Standard, EN 15804, which ensures that EPDs for construction products use a common methodology, report a common set of environmental indicators and have a common reporting format. This means that EPDs can be integrated into building level assessments and used to compare construction products in a building context.

Oonagh Reid stresses the importance of having this information if the construction sector is to tackle its total environmental impacts.

“The adoption of EPDs is a positive step forward for sustainability in the sector,” she explains. “Having a standardised way of providing

RETROFIT CHALLENGE

irish construction news 55 February/March 2022

S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y Modularisation and offsite construction are becoming more common.

which involved the redevelopment of the former Bank of Ireland headquarters on Baggot Street in Dublin.

“The protected façades were sensitively refurbished, and the existing mechanical and electrical infrastructure was replaced entirely to create three stand-alone buildings.

“Achieving high standards in energy efficiency was a priority for the restoration of Miesian Plaza, in line with the ambitious sustainability targets set by our client, Remley Unlimited Company.

The performance of the complex was successfully upgraded whilst maintaining the existing materials and fabric in place, wherever possible, and 75% of waste and demolition from the works was recycled and diverted from landfill or incineration.”

In 2019, Miesian Plaza was the first development in Ireland to be certified LEED Platinum v4, the highest available sustainability rating.

SUSTAINABLE OPPORTUNITIES

Oonagh Reid explains that since 2016, Arup has been a knowledge partner of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF), a charity that focuses on accelerating the global transition to a circular economy.

Arup is working with EMF to reshape built environment practices to design out waste and pollution, keep assets in use for longer and regenerate natural systems.

Reid says that early project team and supply chain involvement is needed if the sector’s carbon footprint is to be reduced.

“Greater connectivity between the full project team from concept through to procurement could support projects in meeting their carbon reduction goals,” she explains. “Modularisation and offsite construction are becoming more common, and contractors have started to look at the equipment they are using on site, introducing low carbon alternatives such as the electrification of their heavy equipment. If we take this a step further, the carbon footprint of projects can be greatly reduced if the project team and supply chain work together from the earliest stage to find sustainable solutions.

Designers, contractors, manufacturers and clients all working together will result in better environmental solutions in terms of materials and processes.

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“Projects must use fewer resources and materials for the building’s functionality and performance to be optimised. In addition, the recycling or reuse of materials at the end of a building’s lifecycle should be maximised. This thinking should be at the forefront of all of our design work.”

She adds that while sustainability has changed building design, it does not impede designers from being aesthetically creative.

“Collectively, we are not doing the job right if the design takes away from the aesthetic.”

TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES

“When I started my career, modular construction was unheard of,” Reid comments. Now, robotics are increasing productivity and reducing waste. The use of BIM models and VR to view buildings during the design phase can identify areas for greater spatial efficiency. Digital twins can be used to assess energy performance in an ongoing manner. All of these tools can help us reduce waste and optimise the performance of buildings.”

A BETTER WORLD

In closing, Oonagh Reid reiterates that greater cross-sector collaboration is needed for the #BuildingLife roadmap to succeed.

“There’s great momentum behind the sustainability movement at the moment, not just within the sector but across society. The roadmap and the use of EPDs will effect change, but the whole industry needs to work together and push this. We need to start looking at projects through that whole life-cycle carbon sustainability lens, designing with decommissioning and reuse in mind. And with all parties working towards a common goal, perhaps the construction industry and the built environment could emerge as a sustainability pioneer.

“Ultimately, all of this is about leaving a better world for our children. I am delighted to be able to say that this is part of my job now, and I am very excited about what we will achieve,” Oonagh Reid concludes.

For further information about EPDs, visit www.epdireland.org

S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y

Healthy Homes Ireland forum aims to advance greener, healthier homes Healthy Homes Ireland is a new forum that has been established to advance a greener and healthier living environment in Ireland’s homes.

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he Healthy Homes Ireland forum, founded with the support of the Irish Green Building Council (IGBC) and Velux, has a steering group comprising 15 leaders in construction, engineering, architecture, public health and the environment.

UNHEALTHY IRISH HOMES

Kevin O’Rourke, Chairperson, Healthy Homes Ireland, says that Irish homes are estimated to be 1.9 times more likely to have dampness and 2.4 times more likely to have insufficient daylight than Ireland’s EU counterparts.

“Improving the energy efficiency of our homes and making them healthier must go together. While decarbonising our homes is critical to reaching our climate targets, health risks from poor indoor air quality, insufficient light, dampness, and noise pollution must also be addressed.”

The overall impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, including the requirement to work from home, has further highlighted the importance of our health and living environments. This is especially important for children as the effect of a poor living environment, not to mention the school environment, can have long term consequences.

According to a Velux pre-Covid Healthy Homes Barometer research study, one in four Irish children lives in an unhealthy home.

Growing up in an unhealthy environment is associated with a higher likelihood of childhood health issues such as asthma and eczema.

IDENTIFYING GAPS IN PUBLIC POLICY

Dr Jens Christoffersen, Senior Researcher, Velux, explains, “We already know from our previous research that air quality, cold, dampness, lack of soundproofing and insufficient daylight is an issue in Irish housing. As 90% of our time is spent indoors, two-thirds of which is in our homes, we must look at ways to improve

Pictured at the official launch of Healthy Homes Ireland (L to r): Marion Jammet, Head of Policy and Advocacy, Irish Green Building Council; Kevin O’Rourke, Chair, Healthy Homes Ireland; and David Gallagher, Senior Ireland Executive, Velux. the health of our living environment. We are delighted to support this forum, and we are looking forward to the results of a Healthy Homes Ireland research study during 2022. This will shed light on potential gaps in public policy and practice that may compound this issue and what we need to do in the years ahead to protect our health at home.”

together twice a year to fulfil the aim of Healthy Homes Ireland. The outcomes from the forum’s work will be the presentation of evidence-based solutions to the government, with an improved understanding among policymakers of what is a healthy home and how to achieve it.

HEALTHY HOMES IRELAND’S SUSTAINABILITY GOALS

Healthy Homes Ireland forum members include Kevin O’Rourke, Chair; Dr Marie Coggins, Senior Lecturer in Exposure Science at School of Physics, NUIG; Justin Conway, Operations Director, Aereco Ltd; Neil Freshwater, Public Affairs Manager GB & Ireland, Velux; Conor Hanniffy, Programme Manager, SEAI’s Warmer Homes Programme and Warmth & Wellbeing and Deep Retrofit Pilot Programmes; Marion Jammet, Head of Policy & Advocacy, IGBC; Deirdre Keeley, Assistant Practice Director, Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland; Michael Kellymór, Technical Manager, Cairn PLC; Dr Paul Kenny, Lecturer, School of Architecture & a Principal Investigator with Earth Institute at UCD; Joseph Little, Assistant Head of School, Dublin School of Architecture, TU Dublin; Michael O’Brien, Innovation & Development Manager, Waterford & Wexford Education and Training Board; Colin Simpson, Housing/ Commercial Delivery Manager, 3cea; Susan Vickers, Energy & Environmental Manager, Clúid Housing; James Benson, Director, Irish Home Builders Association; and Ruth Kerrigan; Chief Operating Officer, Integrated Environmental Solutions Ltd.

Healthy Homes Ireland will also consider aspects of the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), which requires all new builds and major renovations to meet the Nearly Zero Energy Buildings (NZEB) requirement as well as the health and wellbeing of building users.

Marion Jammet, Head of Policy and Advocacy, IGBC, says that Healthy Homes Ireland is aligned to IGBC’s overall objective to transform the Irish building industry to sustainable practices through policy creation and education.

“All housing construction in Ireland should be well thought out and delivered to protect the health and wellbeing of the population. A healthy home is not just bricks and mortar, it is also one that allows homeowners to connect to the local community and access services such as childcare and public transport.”

The Healthy Homes Ireland steering group will meet quarterly and a wider forum of stakeholders with an interest in, and responsibility for, delivering better, healthier homes in Ireland will come

HEALTHY HOMES IRELAND FORUM MEMBERS

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S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y

ACEI launches Pledge to Net Zero

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he Association of Consulting Engineers of Ireland (ACEI) has launched a campaign to support its commitment to ‘Pledge to Net Zero’ in line with the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement.

This commitment has been made to provide ACEI member firms with a sciencebased greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction programme, which comes with support, guidance and the sharing of good practice included.

ACEI has partnered with the UK-based Pledge to Net Zero campaign. Nearly 150 organisations worldwide have signed up to the pledge so far, with all signatories committing to: • Setting and committing to deliver, a greenhouse gas target in line with either a 1.5°C or well below a 2°C climate change scenario; covering buildings and travel as a minimum.

• Publicly reporting greenhouse gas emissions and progress against this target each year • Publishing one piece of research or thought-leadership piece each year on practical steps to deliver a net-zero greenhouse gas economy.

Alternatively, signatories may choose to

David McHugh, President, ACEI. provide mentoring and support for smaller signatory companies in setting targets, reporting and meeting the requirements of

the pledge.

Giving his reaction to the launch, David McHugh, President, ACEI, commented: “ACEI is proud to support its member firms as they commit to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by signing up to ‘Pledge to Net Zero’ (PTNZ). The work of consulting engineers will be crucial in addressing the climate emergency.”

The last Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report demonstrates that urgent action is required to keep global warming due to GHG emissions to less than 1.5˚C. As a sector, one of consulting engineering’s core roles is to advise clients to manage and deliver on environmental challenges, and signing up to Pledge to Net Zero is a clear way for ACEI member firms to show leadership in this area.

By registering for this commitment, ACEI consulting engineering practices will demonstrate their actions as leaders in the field, making a real difference within their operations, as well as continuing to provide world-class advice on sustainability and environmental concerns to clients.

To learn more about the Pledge to Net Zero, visit https://acei.ie/pledge-to-net-zero-news

SEAI supported over 11,000 home energy upgrades in 2021

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ccording to results published by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), during 2021, the government invested €196m in Ireland’s sustainable energy transition, which included allocations for upgrading the energy efficiency of more than 11,300 homes. The public sector is also now 29% more energy efficient. Across Ireland in 2021, 600 communities were planning a clean energy transition, and there were an additional 13,400 more electric vehicles (EVs) in use in Ireland.

Speaking about the results, SEAI Chief Executive William Walsh said that 2021 saw a further increase in activity across SEAI programmes, grants and services.

“We have now built up a strong momentum and appetite for change among business, the public sector, communities, and home and vehicle owners. This comes at a vital time as the challenge ahead is unprecedented. Only sustained yearon-year emissions reductions will see us meet our targets and make our national contribution to the global aim of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees. Our ambition over

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William Walsh, CEO, SEAI. the next decade is to far outstrip the rates of change previously achieved. Ireland needs to dramatically shift away from fossil fuel use for electricity, heat and transport as a national priority.”

In 2021, SEAI disbursed grant support towards 11,368 home energy upgrades,

including 2,272 energy-poor homes. There were also 4,089 solar PV installations supported (Total support of €100m). In addition, 4,606 homes supported by SEAI grants achieved a B2 BER rating or higher.

More than 95,000 BERs were published through SEAI systems. The SEAI launched an updated BER advisory report, which will provide homeowners with valuable information on home energy retrofits. It also launched a pilot BER API service with three home upgrade supply-chain actors, providing digital transaction-level BER data streamlining home energy services, and reducing homeowner burden.

William Walsh said that SEAI had had significant success in decarbonising electricity, but the shift towards renewable energy and energy-efficient technologies has not been fast enough to curb rising greenhouse gas emissions from heat and transport activities.

He commented: “As we hope to emerge from the pandemic in 2022, it’s likely that much of the emissions reductions that occurred due to lock-down measures and other Covid impacts will be eliminated.”

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

Grant announces partnership with the IGBC

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new partnership will see home heating solutions specialist Grant, which has played a leading role in the plumbing and heating industry for over 40 years, supporting the Irish Green Building Council (IGBC) in accelerating the decarbonisation of residential heating.

Pat Barry, CEO, IGBC, said: “Decarbonising our homes is critical to reaching carbon neutrality. As it currently stands, the residential sector accounts for about one-quarter of the energy used in Ireland.

Grant is the first heating company to join our organisation as a partner member, and we are looking forward to working with them to support the decarbonisation of our built environment.”

Stephen Grant, founder, Grant, said that Grant is delighted to join the IGBC. “We bring over four decades of knowledge, innovation and expertise in the heating industry. We are committed to the decarbonisation of residential heating and will continue to focus on helping homeowners throughout Ireland reduce their carbon footprint and future-proof their homes.”

The Government Climate Action plan requires Ireland to install 600,000 heat pumps by 2030. To help with the shift to heat pump technology, Grant is ramping up the education of installers, architects, engineers and local authorities by offering free continuing professional development (CPD) courses.

Niall Fay, Director, Grant, commented: “We look forward to working with the IGBC and fellow members to educate homeowners as well as installers, architects, engineers and local authorities on making the shift to renewables. Heat pump technology can deliver a fully decarbonised, resource-efficient home heating system, whilst

Stephen Grant, founder of Grant Engineering and Niall Fay, Director, Grant Engineering. also allowing long-term cost savings and increased comfort.”

Further demonstrating its commitment to education, Grant has recently launched a new Knowledge Hub section on its website.

Dedicated to giving homeowners easy access to information and advice to help them make informed decisions when selecting heating technologies to best suit their needs, the Knowledge Hub emphasises the importance of making sustainable home heating choices.

To learn more about the Grant Knowledge Hub, visit https://grantengineering.ie/knowledge-hub/

Kilsaran launches Carbon Cure lower carbon concrete solution in Ireland

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s part of its overall strategy to bring more sustainable solutions to its customers, Kilsaran has announced a landmark partnership agreement with CarbonCure Technologies, the first of its kind in Ireland and the UK. The project represents a €1m investment by Kilsaran. It will create an additional eight jobs in project support and R&D. It will also allow Kilsaran to deliver a lower-carbon solution to its clients in the construction sector.

CarbonCure Ready Mix is a technology that introduces captured carbon dioxide (CO₂) into fresh concrete while it’s being mixed.

Once injected, the CO₂ chemically converts into a mineral, which permanently embeds within the mix and improves the concrete’s compressive strength. This allows reductions of carbon-intensive

cement, resulting in the same reliable concrete product but with a smaller carbon footprint.

Kilsaran has partnered with CarbonCure to offer its customers concrete not only with a reduced carbon footprint but also increasing long-term durability and reducing life-cycle impacts.

Kilsaran will begin a phased rollout of CarbonCure with a trial period of production at two Kilsaran ready-mixed concrete plants in Dublin. A limited number of Kilsaran customers will participate in this trial in 2022.

Commenting on the announcement, Keith Goodwin, Group Technical Manager, Kilsaran, said: “The introduction of CarbonCure will enable Kilsaran to offer customers concrete that is not only better for the environment with a reduced carbon footprint but with increased long-term durability. Kilsaran has long been a leader in environmental best practice, having been the first concrete producer in Ireland to introduce GGBS, a by-product from steel production as a partial cement replacement over 20 years ago.”

Based on evidence from existing projects in the US, the CarbonCure solution typically reduces the GHG emissions impact of concrete by 4-6% and, in some instances, as high as 10%.

In concluding, Keith Goodwin advises that the use of CarbonCure can effectively reduce the CO₂ associated with a typical delivery of concrete by 120kg, adding up to a sizeable environmental benefit on the emissions of the overall construction project.

For more information about CarbonCure from Kilsaran please visit www.kilsaran.ie/products/concrete-products-aggregates/carboncure/

irish construction news 59 February/March 2022

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

Esri Ireland transforms delivery of sustainable projects for KSN Energy

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eographic information systems (GIS) software specialist Esri Ireland has collaborated with KSN Energy on a project using its digital mapping software to reduce costs and achieve significant time savings.

KSN Energy surveys newly installed energy retrofit works to properties. The company needed to convert highly complex paper-based surveys into mobile, digital operations, and required a more efficient method of assigning engineers with the necessary qualifications to inspections. Esri Ireland designed and deployed a tailored solution using its ArcGIS software, which is enabling the digitisation of KSN Energy’s survey process and streamlining project procedures for its 51 strong energy team.

Esri’s innovative Survey123 app is being used to support long and complex field surveys on multiple devices and collects accurate data more easily versus paper-based survey forms. The ability to generate custom reports directly from Survey123 saves at least one hour per day for each of the four programmes it handles, amounting to more than 2,000 employee hours saved per year.

Additionally, the new ArcGIS Workforce job management platform will contribute to revenue growth from more effective job scheduling.

Esri also designed bespoke dashboards to improve collaboration and easily track job progress. Michael Slevin, Director, KSN Energy, commented: “Utilising ArcGIS across KSN Energy has meant that all staff are now aware of the status of all projects; our team can tailor reports for clients and management, and we have reduced our carbon

L-r: Keith Montague, Customer Success Manager, Esri Ireland; Ian Donnelly, Quality Assurance Auditor, KSN Energy; and Michael Slevin, Director, KSN Energy. footprint through a paperless system in the cloud and streamlining our workforce scheduling.

“ArcGIS is a truly innovative technology that we are thrilled to be implementing across the organisation.”

Keith Montague, Customer Success Manager, Esri Ireland, said: “KSN Energy needed to streamline its processes in order to manage and track multiple projects more effectively. With ArcGIS, KSN Energy now has the capacity to capture, examine and analyse data in new ways, as well as having clearer visibility of recurring quality control concerns.”

Members of the Elliott Group Procurement Department at the recent handover of two JCB 540/180 Loadalls.

Elliott Group adds to its fleet of on-site vehicles

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lliott Group Construction Director Gary O’Sullivan was delighted to recently receive two new JCB 540/180 Loadalls to add to the expanding Elliott Group site fleet.

Speaking at the handover, he said: “There is a duty of care for our site team to make

60 irish construction news February/March 2022

certain that they are working with the very best and safest plant and machinery. Not only does this reinforce their personal safety, but it also ensures we deliver the highest quality of workmanship for our clients.”

The two JCB 540/180 Loadalls are now hard at work on Elliott Group’s high-

profile Adamstown residential and retail construction project.

With 10 current live projects, Elliott Group has successfully navigated through the pandemic with a strong, dedicated team working on multiple sites in Dublin, Cork and the United Kingdom.