Ethos Engineering’s greatest asset is its people. So when associate Gary O’Reilly was recently named Young Fit Out Designer of the Year at the 2021 Irish Construction Industry Awards, it didn’t come as a surprise to anyone.
A native of Bailieboro, Co. Cavan, the talented mechanical engineer was also shortlisted for Designer of the Year at the prestigious awards ceremony. He was nominated in both instances for his outstanding work on Salesforce’s new European Headquarters at Spencer Place in the heart of Dublin.
Ireland’s leading mechanical and electrical design consultancy, Ethos Engineering is no stranger to winning awards and was also in the running for Engineering Firm of the Year and Consultancy of the Year at the Irish Construction Industry Awards, which recognise, encourage and celebrate original and innovative contractors, businesses, teams, consultants and projects that demonstrate excellence in the built environment. In addition, Ethos was shortlisted for Professional Consultancy of the Year at the Fit Out Awards, which celebrate excellence in the execution of world-class fit outs.
The nominations came after the Dublin-headquartered consultancy, which was established in 2005, announced it’s creating 150 new jobs in both Ireland and abroad over the next four years as part of a plan to double revenues to €30 million by 2025.
To coincide with its ‘Going for Growth’ plans, Ethos Engineering undertook a major rebrand which resulted in a new corporate logo and a new motto, ‘Engineering Wow’. This is a statement of intent where the company believes that each building it works on should have a distinct Ethos signature in terms of delivery, imagination and innovation. The Ethos team view each project as completely bespoke with no pre-ordained solutions.
The award-winning M&E consultancy is continually driving technology and digital innovation, and embracing new and improved ways of working. Its curiosity, creativity and client focus are part of its DNA, and ‘Engineering Wow’ will ensure that always remains the case.
“It’s an exciting time for the company which I am proud to be a part of,” Gary says.
“The Young Fit Out Designer of the Year Award and nominations not only reflect well on me, but on the whole Ethos team. It’s a team effort at the end of the day and everyone plays their part. I was equally proud to receive the Designer of the Year nomination because of the fact that I was the only mechanical engineer to be shortlisted in that category.”
The 35-year-old’s engineering background has undoubtedly been a key factor in his success to date. “My father Norbert is one of the owners of Coolrite Refrigeration in Bailieboro, so you could say engineering was bred into me,” he smiles.
Gary graduated with an honours degree in Mechanical Engineering from Glasgow Caledonian University in 2009 and has been working in the Building Services sector ever since. He started his career as a graduate project engineer for Ardmac in their Dublin office where he worked on a variety of healthcare, pharmaceutical and micro-electronics projects. In 2011, he moved to Canada where he spent four years working for MCW Consultants in Toronto on the building services design for large-scale multi storey residential and commercial projects. Gary returned to Ireland in 2018 and started working for Ethos Engineering as a senior engineer, joining the team involved in commercial fit out developments. He quickly rose through the ranks, becoming a senior project engineer in his first year and associate after two years.
During his second year with Ethos, Gary was involved in the aforementioned Salesforce fit out project. The building is the largest ever undertaken for a single client in the history of the State. Gary was firstly responsible for the lead mechanical design on the project, but quickly took on the overall project lead for Ethos.
The scale and complexity of the project was unlike any other office constructed in Ireland. The development had an overall building floor area of approximately 46,000m2 spread over four office buildings with occupancy for 5,000 people. The fit out of the office was a bespoke design with a number of specialised areas which are unique to Salesforce. There is a large commercial kitchen facility located on the top floor in the ‘Ohana’ Space which is dedicated to hosting charitable fundraisers, receptions and special events that have a focus on humanitarian, social, education or environmental causes.
The development also includes a coffee shop, large-scale conference areas, wellness and parent rooms, various activity rooms, training rooms and presentation spaces. A significant challenge of the project was coordinating with the various design teams and consultants who were based in San Francisco. The design teams consisted of two American architectural firms, a dedicated specialist lighting consultant, a dedicated IT / AV consultant and an Irish Architect of Record located in Dublin.
Gary overcame these challenges by working closely with all the members of the design teams and understanding their individual requirements for the best commercially viable design solution.
The fit out vision for the building was a high-quality finish design which also encompassed the mechanical and electrical services. The building was delivered as a mix of CAT A fit out and shell in core from the base build team, so careful coordination was needed to deliver on the Salesforce requirements. This also involved a number of tenant interventions to better align the base build design with the Salesforce requirements.
Many coordination workshops were conducted on the equipment and product selections with the architectural team in great detail, while still maintaining standard compliance and functionality.
Since the fit out included such a wide array of facilities, it called upon Gary’s experience from many other sectors to resolve design hurdles. An example of this is that Salesforce wanted to operate the ‘Ohana’ Space independently from the main office areas as these would be used out of hours when the central plant would be set back.
Through careful coordination with the tenant plant space provision on the roof, Ethos was able to design a dedicated system to maintain the ‘Ohana’ floor’s HVAC systems to operate independently from the main building central plant.
A senior member of Ethos’ internal technical team and digital acceleration task force where he is active in the digital transformation of the consultancy, Gary is currently engaged in the new CAT A commercial office development which will be located on the former DIT Campus on Kevin Street. When completed, the project will comprise over 40,000m2 of CAT A fit out commercial office space over three blocks.
Fronted by Greg Hayden (managing director), Colm Devin (director) and John Coroner (director), Ethos Engineering provides M&E solutions for a wide range of sectors. With a HQ in Sandyford, Dublin 18, a regional office in Galway and work sites in 14 EMEA countries across Europe and Africa, the company has designed, delivered and provided master planning services for 45 data centres, including 23 in Ireland. It has also completed 9.6 million sq. ft. of office space, 4 million sq. ft. of mixed-use developments, 8,562 residential units, 7,200 student beds, 2,000 dwellings, 1,700 hotel beds, 1,100 prison cells, 3,000 healthcare beds and 30 operating theatres.
Ethos currently employs over 110 people, with at least 40 of these having been recruited since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. The new positions which are being created will coincide with a restructuring of the business to focus on six key areas, including sustainability and smart buildings.
Ethos Engineering Ltd
Penthouse Suite,
Apex Business Centre,
Blackthorn Road,
Sandyford,
Dublin 18 DH76.
Telephone: +353 (0)1 293 2220
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.ethoseng.ie
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, February 2022, Vol 8 No 2
