GMIT hosts 5th annual International Construction Management Day Conference

The fifth International Construction Management Day Conference, hosted by the GMIT Department of Building & Civil Engineering, will take place in GMIT Galway on 10 March, 2015. The event will be 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.

This year’s range of topics include an overview of the current construction industry in Ireland, procurement and investment in Irish water infrastructure, the Tuam to Gort road project (an update), the Construction 2020 Strategy, the philosophy of ‘Lean’ construction, and much more.

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

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

Conference Chair and GMIT Engineering lecturer Martin Taggart says this year’s conference has a panel of expert speakers arranged in general information and technical sets, with opportunities for questions and answers “The conference has grown significantly in the past five years and is now the largest annual construction event in the west of Ireland. It is an exemplar of cooperation between academia and industry, providing a unique forum for the wider construction community to be informed about the current directions of this key sector”

A keynote address will be delivered by Paudie Coffey, Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, with special responsibility for Housing, Planning and Coordination of the Construction 2020 Strategy.

The full list of speakers and topic areas are as follows:

John O’Regan, Director of the AECOM group, a global provider of architecture, design, engineering, and construction services, will give an overview of the Construction Industry in Ireland and further afield, and its current prospects.

Martin Acton, Procurement and Commercial Manager at Irish Water and his team will outline procurement and investment plans in the short and medium term in the water infrastructure area.

The Galway office of RPS Group, an international consultancy providing engineering services in energy, waste, marine, transport, water & waste water and pharmaceuticals, will give their experiences to date of using Building Information Modelling for their projects in the UK and also suggest what can be learned from this for future BIM use in Ireland.  

Sean Downey, Director of Specialist Contracting at the CIF, will give a presentation on the philosophy of ‘Lean’ Construction and make delegates aware of the community of practice that was formed in Ireland last year and currently has over 800 members on its Linkedin group.

Pat Lucey, Director of John Sisk Civils, and President of the Civil Engineering Contractors Association, will talk about the current state of the Civils Industry in Ireland and Noel Curtis, Project Manager of the recently commenced N17 / N18 Gort to Tuam PPP Road project, will give an update on the project.

Three speakers from the UK will also address the conference - Eddie Tuttle, Head of public affairs and policy at the Chartered Institute of Building and John Eynon, Director of Open Water Consulting, will pair up to give a report on UK progress towards the BIM 2016 agenda and what lessons can be taken from that agenda here in Ireland; Michael Wadood, President, of the Chartered Association of Building Engineers, a Building Control Surveyor by profession, will provide an unusual look at how design can influence disabilities accessibility and also consider future directions in accessibility. He will reference a current EU case seeking to have obesity accepted as a disability.

GMIT PhD student Jan Gottsche will provide an update of some of the current built environment research taking place in GMIT which involves several construction companies in the local CIF Community.

As part of the conference this year, GMIT is also hosting a national seminar series workshop on transitions from third level education to the construction industry. This is kindly sponsored and supported by the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. Keynote speaker in the workshop is Paul Sheridan, Deputy Registrar, Engineers Ireland. 

Admission to the International Construction Management Day Conference in GMIT is free and flexible and no formal booking is required. Guests are welcome to attend for individual sessions if they cannot attend for the whole day.

For further information or to confirm attendance, please contact Conference Chair Martin Taggart, Department of Building & Civil Engineering, GMIT. Email:  martin.taggart@gmit.ie  Direct line 091 742875