Construction Management Conference hears activity levels growing

The fifth International Construction Management Day Conference, hosted by the GMIT Department of Building & Civil Engineering, had the highest number of delegates in attendance since the inaugural conference five years ago.

The event was formally opened by Paudie Coffey, Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Community & Local Government with Special Responsibility for Housing, Planning and Coordination of the Construction 2020 Strategy.

Now one of the largest construction conferences in the west of Ireland, delegates included contractors, suppliers, architects, engineers, surveyors and other construction professionals along with staff and students from GMIT’s built environment programmes and other third-level institutions, as well as staff from local authorities and public sector organisations.

Conference organiser Martin Taggart was delighted to report that CAO applications for GMIT Construction Management degree programmes have increased by 50% on last year and there aren't enough graduates to fill jobs now becoming available. He said applications for all other construction related programmes in the School of Engineering are also up.

"Our strategic decision to maintain the core built environment programmes - Construction Management, Civil Engineering, Architectural Engineering and Quantity Surveying - during the downturn have paid dividends and we are now seeing significantly increased demand," he said.

Deputy Paudie Coffey, Minister of State at the Dept of the Environment, Community and Local Government, told delegates that confidence and activity levels in construction are now thankfully continuing to register positive growth each quarter. "I sense a growing mood of optimism that the recovery is real and lasting."

"The figures speak for themselves -construction employment now stands at 116,000 persons, an increase of 13,000 persons in the past year alone.  Housing completions reached 11,000 in 2014, up by 32% on 2013. " he said.

The event was sponsored by the Chartered Institute of Building, the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland, and, the Chartered Association of Building Engineers and was strongly supported by the local Construction Industry Federation (CIF) through its Galway Chairman Paul Carey and Branch Manager Justin Molloy.