Clark Celebrating 25 years in business.

The idea for Clark was born in Brisbane Australia in the mid ‘90s. I was working for a world wide recruitment company called Drake and with 2 young children, wanted to be closer to family and was thinking of coming back to Ireland.

What would a good name be for a recruitment company? Drake had done research into strong brand names back in the late 1950’s and the name Drake came about because the strongest brands at the time were one syllable words with a “K” – think Nike or Coke.

And so, Clark was born.

It came to be a reality in 1998 when Clark Recruitment set up office in a humble premises just off main street Naas. The plan was a simple but well thought out one:

To provide a global standard recruitment service to a local business community which would enable a work-life balance for people in the world of work.

1998 was the era when fax machines still played a part in communication, when cheques were the standard form of payment and when the phones rang continuously. Email was just starting to become part of how we communicate.

It was before the Celtic tiger and Clark built a business based on solid honest working relationships, heaps of energy and a “can-do” approach. By 2001, We had outgrown our little office space, despite taking on more offices across the laneway and we made the brave move to renovate what was a residential house on Johns Lane into what became Clark House and ultimately The Atrium.

Our business grew during the Celtic tiger years and also proved its resilience in the dot-com bubble burst of 2001. By 2008 we were punching well above our weight and had built a strong reputation as a quality service provider in both temporary and permanent recruitment in the Leinster region – the world was our oyster. And then the economic crash happened and our resilience and creativity were put to the test.

Between 2008 and 2013 we re-invented ourselves, we developed new services and worked like hell to survive. Cashflow was king and there were many weeks when we held our breath for payments to come in on time so we could pay our own creditors and of course our staff.

During these years, Clark Managed Services was born and our Executive coaching and development service was conceived.

In 2015, we could see light at the end of the tunnel and our strategy was once again about growth and not just surviving.

By 2019 we were soaring as a business having won some lucrative contracts which gave us great visibility to future recurring revenue.

We had 3 strongly performing business areas: Recruitment & Selection, Managed Services and Executive Coaching & Development . We were excited and our growth was on a serious trajectory.

2020 got off to a flying start and then – Bang – Corona virus or Covid 19 hit and it was all about survival. The words pivot, remote and blended working, virtual meetings, became part of our everyday vocabulary. The governments of the world introduced schemes to help people and businesses survive. Clark, like most people and businesses in Ireland and around the world had to dig very deep.

Luckily, our resilience tank was full, well-tuned and our survival instinct was very much alive. 2020 and 2021 were extremely difficult years and required us to think on our feet, be extremely agile and pull together as a team to do what we could do for one another and for our community.

The world of work would never be the same again. By 2022, remote working and blended working arrangements were the norm, zoom was part of our everyday business language and by 2023, Ireland was at full employment. Our core role is still to find great people for great business’s.

So on reflection, what is it that enabled us to survive – and to thrive - over the last 25years?

Firstly, its our people. Our own team. The commitment, the energy, the desire to do a great job and the genuine interest in helping our clients and candidates realise their potential. Over 25 years of business, we have employed many people –several who have returned to work with us after career changes or family breaks – the tenure of most of our team is exceptional particularly for the recruitment consultancy industry - We have always encouraged people to grow and develop and continue to invest in our team.

Secondly , it’s our processes – having very solid foundations based on delivering a quality service which can be flexible, adaptable and always reliable. Finding a way to deliver what’s needed while having integrity and embracing technology to enable us to deliver. Having an ISO standard has supported us and enabled us to compete against far bigger competitors –and win!

Thirdly, it’s our passion. Always looking for new opportunities, always wanting to improve, always believing that we have something different to offer and always’ s striving to over deliver. Essentially always looking to punch above our weight and be at our very best.

Our longstanding relationships with the business community in Co. Kildare and beyond, our ability to attract and retain great people and our recognition by our governing body as being the best in our field are all testament to what we believe in: Being leaders in our field by providing a global standard of service to the business community which enables a work-life balance for people.

Here’s to the next 25 years and all it brings!

“Two and a half decades of dedication, innovation, and perseverance have woven the tapestry of our success. As we celebrate 25 years in business, we cherish the memories of our humble beginnings and embrace the endless possibilities that lie ahead. With gratitude to our loyal customers, committed team, and unwavering belief in our mission, we stand tall, stronger, and ready to embark on the next 25 years of excellence.”

Drumshanbo

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Palmerstown House Estate recently celebrated 10 years under the Banner of Comer Group Ireland, and while the sophisticated façade remains unchanged the wheels of change have been in motion on an almost permanent basis. These changes include our parent company launching its entire hospitality division of Comer Group Hotels in 2018.

Like all business in our industry Palmerstown House Estate has faced significant challenges in recent years but made the choice to stand up, adapt and diversify to the needs of our customers and potential customers.

The Manor House built in 1872 has played host in its lifetime to aristocrats both domestic and international. It was the backdrop to the work of the Earl of Mayo all the way to the base for Anne BullittBiddle’s Stud Farm. It was here she bread many winners, becoming the first licenced female horse trainer in Ireland. Among these winners was Sindon, bread by Biddle who went on to win the 1958 Irish Derby and who lends his name to Sindon’s Bar and Restaurant the champion of the Clubhouse.

Today the Manor House plays host to an abundance of guests from both the Leisure, Event and Corporate worlds. The estates location and onsite facilities and scope grasps the attention of those from all corners of the globe. Set on 900 acres, the immediate grounds of the Manor include formal manicured side gardens, a large oblong green field to the rear and a network of charming walks to the walled garden, estate roadways and clubhouse. Inside, the House boasts an attractive foyer and onwards to the Main Hall. The main hall is by nature the main thoroughfare of the building, but includes a bespoke and concealed bar and is encapsulated by the Glass Dome ceiling and Waterford Crystal Chandelier. In addition to the hall the ground floor has 3 interconnecting drawing rooms and a selection of the 22 bedrooms. With a commercial kitchen, bistro space and billiards room at basement level this historic home lacks nothing but the details and imagination of our bookers. The Manor was sympathetically refurbished in the opening weeks of 2020 with each bedroom individual in style and space.

The Overhauls didn’t end with the Manor house however, the clubhouse has seen some impressive new developments of its own. In this building you will find the dedicated Pro Shop, from which our golf Pros are at hand, as well as a full range of equipment and golf wear. There are a number of event spaces on different levels of the clubhouse, each bosting views of the 18th green and including direct access to the outdoors. This we have found is imperative to our Meeting and Event clients. On the ground floor the Amato Suite and Boardroom were both upgraded to react to this and a spacious patio was incorporated. The plenary space on the top floor, the High Chaparral, leads out to a large balcony space and seats up to 200 dining guests inside. Both the Amato and High Chaparral can be set to the style befitting the event and can be catered for in room or in the Bar and Restaurant. As previously mentioned Sindon’s Bar and Restaurant gained its name from the estates history and is the biggest revamp. The whole space was flipped on its head and rebranded in 2021, the inclusion of our luxury booth seating has made a dramatic impact on business in the space. Throughout the process of the fitout our loyal members were not forgotten, the Snug is exclusively for their benefit. Once again Sindon’s opens out to a large open terrace viewing the 18th green and beyond, unique to this level is an automated glass weather shield space. Last but not least is 58 @ Sindon’s , a cosy lounge perfect for Coffee and Chats or Afternoon Tea, early booking is strongly recommended in this space in particular.

All of the improvements and redevelopments of the Estate have been completed under the watchful eye of Group General Manager Jerry Power. Jerry has seen Palmerstown House Estate go from a stand alone entity through to Comer Group Hotels expanding to incorporate The Glashaus Hotel, The Shearwater Hotel and The Ellison Hotel. Jerry has been a listening ear to all of those passing through the estate in its 10-year history, and has combined feedback, suggestions and his and the team’s vision to bring Palmerstown to its current glory. Pivotal to this success has been engaging as the host venue to Large Festival’s and summer concert series and not forgetting hosting one of the countries best Christmas Experience’s in Santas House Express. Palmerstown has greeted dining parties from 2 to 1200 and feedback on food and service does not waiver, in the past few weeks the Estate has received an Excellence in Service award from the Irish Hotel Awards following a secret shopper inspection. While is no secret the hospitality sector has struggled of late with staff, Palmerstown has retained its core team and has been able to expand to adapt to growing business needs.

Golf course upgrades regularly gave rise to ambition to redesign the 10th Hole and provide golfers with a challenging midway highlight, the 10th Island Green. Some of our best feedback has been referring to the feature as the “Irish Sawgrass”. The 10th Island Green was revealed on April 28th 2021 – a significant reopening date during the Covid Pandemic. But we didn’t stop there, and one of the finest additions was opened last summer, a 14 Covered Bay Trackman Driving range. with Trackman in every bay. And for the inclement weather, each bay is heated, and the range is floodlight for the winter months, leaving no reason not to try.

Palmerstown and the team have no time for pause after a busy summer. Sunday lunch is booked out weekly, corporate booking season is upon us and 2024 Golf Membership just over the horizon the Estate looks to a busy and bright future.

Tell us a bit about yourself?

I’m originally from South Dublin and moved across to Naas some seven years ago. While I’m from Dublin it was an easy move as my Mum’s family are from Kildare and with the office in Baldonnell it’s very convenient.

As a Business Graduate, having studied Commerce in UCD, was always interested in Entrepreneurship and starting my own business. This I did in 1994, setting up Walls to Workstations (W2W) with Gerry Whelan.

I’m an avid reader with a broad interest in business, economics and history generally as well as science and management though for a change of pace (or distraction on holidays!) a detective or spy novel breaks things up.

I stay active these days either at my home gym or sailing with my younger children at the very scenic Blessington lake.

Tell us a bit about what W2W do?

Tell us a bit about what W2W do?

Walls to Workstations is a specialist provider of commercial interior solutions comprising three divisional areas - Furniture, Glazing & Acoustics, and Contract Flooring. Our key Partners in each area are International, industry leading Brands and generally longstanding players in each sector.

We have our strongest market position in glazing, and glazed partitions, with our partner Optima, established over many years. This Division is ably led by my colleague and Director, Stuart Ramsden. Following the very challenging period after the ‘crash’ in 2008 having suffered a serious contraction, and redundancies, in the business we had the opportunity to develop our structural glazing projects as Contractor relationships deepend and order value opportunities increased.

Our Furniture Division promotes a curated portfolio of industry leading Brands including our recently announced partnership with Bene, a leading brand for innovation in design and manufacturing processes. Their automated factory space in Austria is outstanding. We also recently invested in GreyFox Design, a wholly owned Irish company, research led, and with a focus on human design and manufacturing its own collection of collaborative furniture.

We are very proud to be recognised as a “Great Place to Work” as we have worked hard to build Trust both externally in the market and internally with our Teams.

We have a very keen focus on operational excellence which is reflected in ongoing innovation and recognised with ISO Certifications.

Contract Flooring is our smallest division, we are the sole distributor for Shaw Contract Flooring.

You set up the company in 1994, with the company going from strength to over the years, tell us a bit about that?

You set up the company in 1994, with the company going from strength to over the years, tell us a bit about that?

Yes we set up the company in 1994, and the initial 2 - 3 years might be characterised as a period of ‘guerilla warfare’ where we were reacting to the collapse of our “best laid plans” and working hard on any established relationships to secure business and keep the company going.

As myself and Gerry had already accumulated some 10 years in the furniture market we were fortunate to have developed those relationships that stood the test of time and got us through those turbulent start up years.In time we anchored the business developing relationship with key (international) partners who excelled in the industry enabling us to build a professional, specification led profile.

Performance specifications and design aesthetics are most important when it comes to commercial interior solutions. Over time we have developed solutions for the Corporate, Hospitality, HealthCare and Education sectors of our market.

Over the years we have built our team now employing 50 or thereabouts directly with a solid pool of sub-contract partners who’ve grown with us.

Staff include professionals in estimating, technical support, contracts management and project management who strive to consistently deliver projects on schedule and within budget. Strong business relationships have been built over the years by consistently delivering projects in line with schedule, and outperforming competitors.

The hard work is winning specifications with Architects & Designers. The industry is highly competitive and we continue to lead the way by maintaining close ties and innovating.

As we have built the business we have seen the Tech bubble burst in 2000 which was followed too soon by the ‘great’ crash in 2008. As said then I won’t be around for the next one.

While this was an extremely low point for construction and design professionals, one the construction sector has yet to fully recover from, we managed to contain redundancies to 40% of staff - as against the 60-70% suffered by the industry generally. Thankfully at that point we had grown our balance sheet sufficiently to us through what was a 6 year recovery cycle while keeping as many staff as we could afford to. This left us in good shape then to take advantage of the recovery as it started to take shape in 2013 to 2016.

From there we have grown and developed our Team investing in the best talent which has underpinned the growth in our business to date. Having passed the €20m mark we are focused on the diversification of the business going forward.

What’s next as you look forward?

Well for one thing, continued Membership of the Kildare Chamber. While our business is on the border with Dublin I’ve found the professionalism and network engendered in the Chamber is second to none. The business investment in the County is also remarkable given that it is on Dublin’s doorstep. We were delighted to work on the recently opened ‘’Merits Hub’’, in Naas Kildare.

As we look forward, critically, what has come into view is the issue of succession planning. Whatever about the next 5 years, we have to plan for and develop the team to take the business forward from there. By no means are we discounting our involvement in the business however, we must have developed a Team that can run things independently during that time.

There are, and will be, though, no shortage of other challenges. Corporate Real Estate and particularly offices are reeling following the Pandemic with further stress being applied by an inflationary environment that’s driving Central Banks around the world to continue to raise interest rates. The Tech sector, a key driver of growth, is contracting.

While the shape, and ‘look and feel’ of the office will continue to change it will not be counted out. Studies suggest the very large projects from previous years will decrease in prevalence, and the number of medium and smaller projects will increase, as company’s lease smaller spaces, and demand for flexible leases increase.

We expect certain trends in the commercial interior space to further develop, those being Hybrid Working, Flexibility, Adaptability, and of course Sustainability and we continue to develop our solutions to respond accordingly.

Our Brand, as the provider of Trusted Interior Solutions, is a foundation we have carefully set down. It is to provide a value framework for our business and our relationships both internally and externally. When you consider that your reputation may always balance on the last job you have to encourage and strive for high standards but above all you must develop Trust.

Studies show the main reason employees go to the office is to collaborate with their colleagues. However not everyone works the same, and employees want flexible solutions from their office space that allow for various ways of working, from collaboration spaces, to quiet rooms and dedicated concentration spaces.

Optimising the use of space while minimising density and overcrowding, incorporating natural lighting, high acoustics, and breakout spaces throughout the office all contribute to employee well being.

Climate action is at the forefront today. Is sustainability an important part of W2W’s ethos?

As we’ve seen this year, more than ever before, Climate change is real. Climate Action is needed, urgently. While Governments around the world move slowly to coordinate efforts our (carbon) targets slip back.

On the other hand, the Corporate world and certainly, Corporate America, is committing to change as is the Design Community.

In addition, an opportunity we are seeing for Corporate Real Estate is the focus on the redevelopment of 2nd Generation, and older, stock; an imperative for Landlords and Investors alike.

As companies continue to increase their commitments to sustainability, sustainable office design will play an even more pivotal role in our projects going forward.

We aim to use sustainable materials, repurpose and recycle products, and manage energy consumption to minimise our environmental impact wherever possible.

From an operations standpoint we have already significantly reduced our carbon footprint by switching to Led lighting, 20% of our motor fleet is now electric and we aim to be Net Carbon in the future.