Senior Quantity Surveyor at C&N Higgins Construction Ltd., Graham Maher has been shortlisted in the Future Leader Planner & Surveyor category of this year’s Irish Construction Excellence Awards. Building Ireland travelled to Oranmore in County Galway and touched base with this exceptional young building professional to find out more.
Performance excellence across the full range of construction disciplines and project categories will be recognised and celebrated at the 2025 ICE Awards in The Convention Centre Dublin on Thursday night, May 1st. Dedicated to reshaping landscapes and communities through excellence in civil and building construction, upwardly-mobile Oranmore, County Galway based C&N Higgins Construction Ltd. is in the running for two major industry awards.
The company, which has grown exponentially and delivered a magnificent portfolio of industry-leading projects since its inception in 2005, has been shortlisted in the ‘Residential Social & Affordable Up to €5m’ category for Tobair Mhuire Housing Development at Ahascragh, County Galway, while Senior QS Graham Maher – who was extensively involved in mitigating the risk of cost and programme overruns on the aforementioned project – has been nominated for the Future Leader Planner & Surveyor award.
Needless to say, Graham is delighted to even be in the conversation for a major national industry award: “Definitely – it’s great for myself and also for the company. From a personal point of view, it’s nice to get a push like this at this point in my career, whereas it’s also brilliant that the company has been nominated in the other category too.
“The timing could not be better. C&N Higgins is a family business celebrating 20 years in business this year, so it’s great that they have been shortlisted on the double to coincide with their 20th-anniveersary celebrations. Everybody here is happy about it and when you receive national recognition like this it’s obviously good for morale. It’s great in every way!”
Has there been a bit of spring in the collective step around the office and onsite since the shortlist was announced? “There has. A little reassurance and recognition is always welcome. Look, we all know that awards are not the be all and end all, but they are a nice bonus. Even to be nominated. As long as a lad has work to go to and is happy getting up in the morning to do a day’s work, that’s the main thing at the end of the day. Just to be put forward by the company in the first place was a massive honour for me. When they are prepared to endorse you like that, you feel like you must be doing something right.”
Graham has clearly been doing a lot right since he joined the C&N Higgins Construction team upon returning home from London in September, 2020. During the intervening four-five years, the company has enjoyed a period of unprecedented growth, with turnover increasing. During this time, huge effort and emphasis have been invested into developing company systems and structures to achieve this growth.
Once the growth was initiated, Graham and the extended team began to look at ways in which they could do better outside of just increasing turnover and profit. From this, he began to look at different aspects that could be improved upon and small changes that would lead to big impacts.
From an environmental and social perspective, they began to encourage and increase a lean approach to construction projects utilising Just in Time systems, waste segregation areas and minimal waste orders, etc. Graham also got more in tune with the products and systems being used on a large scale and sought out equivalent products which may be more sustainable or had a lower carbon footprint. Examples of this include furniture and fittings made from recycled materials, the introduction of GGBS concrete where appropriate, embracing modern methods of construction such as timberframe to reduce the quantity of blocks and mortar being used on projects.
Over the past number of years, Graham has encouraged the decision makers in the company to trial and implement a number of project management and cost management systems to improve overall performance. When he joined, there were minimal systems or software utilised to manage projects, track costs or communicate effectively with stakeholders. Following a number of trial runs, he implemented various systems to remedy this, including Procore project management software, LiveCosts as a method of sending and tracking purchase orders, and First Principle estimating.
“It’s gone really well and I’m still here anyway which is a good sign,” the Future Leader Planner & Surveyor award nominee quips. “I moved home from London after Covid started to hit hard and it’s been really, really good since I joined C&N Higgins Construction. When I joined the lads, the company was relatively small and it has been exciting to be involved in different areas of the company and to be part of that growth journey.
“There were only two or three in the office when I joined and that number has since tripled or quadrupled. In fairness to the directors, we are afforded a lot of responsibility. Our opinion is always asked for and we are encouraged to come forward and take responsibility, so it’s a very positive work environment with a strong team ethos.”
Specialising in social housing, private housing, educational and commercial projects, and driven by the pursuit of quality, innovation, and client satisfaction, C&N Higgins Construction bring forth a wealth of experience and expertise to every project undertaken. From intricate residential developments to expansive commercial complexes, and from cutting-edge educational facilities to vital infrastructure projects, their commitment to superior craftsmanship and attention to detail is unwavering.
Graham Maher was Quantity Surveyor on Tobair Mhuire Housing Development, Ahascragh, which was delivered between April, 2022 and February, 2024. This €2.8 million project – shortlisted for an ICE award – comprised the demolition of ten existing housing units, the deep renovation of six existing houses and the construction of twelve new homes.
While carrying out demolition works at the early stage of the project, subsurface obstruction was encountered in the form of RC ground beams, pads and piles not captured on site surveys and not included in the works requirements or project budget.
This brought the risk of programme and cost overruns but Graham employed his knowledge and understanding, cost and programme analysis techniques and contract provisions to aid the client, design team and the main contractor to minimise the overall impact of this unforeseen event, reducing the initial projected cost of additional works by over 30 per cent and minimising delays to the contract programme by reducing the amount of demolition required.
C&N Higgins Construction currently generates direct employment for a team of 40. Up until a couple of years ago, all of their work was in Galway, but they have since taken on projects in Mayo, down south into Limerick and Clare, and into the midlands in the direction of Laois and Tipperary.
“The vast majority of our work at the moment is social housing projects,” Graham concludes. “You are looking at a lot of MMC and innovation across the industry and seeing how can you implement this into your own company. You don’t need to shout it from the rooftops that there is huge demand for social and affordable houses in Ireland at the moment, so something we need to work out is how can we speed up the process of building these homes whilst maintain the highest standards and ensuring that every project is being run as well as it can be.”
C&N Higgins Construction Ltd.,
Office 4b,
Oranpoint,
Main Street,
Oranmore,
County Galway.
Tel: 091 396 374
Mobile: 085 2505 968
Email: [email protected]
Web: cnconstruction.ie
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, May 2025, Vol 11 No 5
