Ireland’s premier MEP / building engineering firm Metec Consulting Engineers was in the limelight once more when named as the Professional Consultancy of the Year at the 2021 Fit Out Awards. Building Ireland touched base with director Bernard Denver to gauge his reaction.
Since its inception in 2007, Metec Consulting Engineers has forged an unrivalled reputation as one of Ireland’s most in-demand MEP / building engineering specialists, bringing industry-leading expertise to bear on a diverse selection of prestigious commercial and residential developments.
Invariably delivering services that are professional, fit for purpose and in line with client expectations, timing and budget requirements, Metec has been instrumental in reshaping how the construction industry thinks about building performance, operating across a wide range of engineering fields (mechanical, electrical, energy and sustainability, BIM Engineering / 3D modelling and quality control) and covering all building sectors – from commercial office fit outs and new shell & core speculative builds to retail, pharmaceutical, hotel and student accommodation as well as sporting and leisure, industrial, residential, healthcare, educational, historical and conservation builds, religious buildings and prisons.
Facilitating the optimal power, heating, cooling, ventilation and plumbing performance of a building, services design is fundamental to any fit out and Metec Consulting Engineers’ excellence in this field was recognised by a jury of their peers when they were selected as Professional Consultancy of the Year at the 2021 Fit Out Awards.
While gleaning major industry awards is nothing new to the cutting-edge Metec team, Managing Director Bernard Denver – who runs the company alongside partners and Metec’s Executive Directors Cyril Creaven and Gary Quinn – was nonetheless humbled and honoured to see the firm’s name up in lights on the big night once more:
“We were delighted to pick up the award,” Bernard confirms. “It’s a great achievement for the company and we are hoping we can use it as a platform to continue developing, growing and marketing the company and to get more recognition for the services we provide.”
At the heart of Metec Consulting Engineers is an exceptional 55-strong team of professionals, who work together to deliver the highest quality design, low energy and competitive mechanical and electrical building engineering services on all projects. Metec are team players, working collaboratively with design partners and construction teams. They believe in working hard, delivering on time and on budget whilst acknowledging the importance of the sustainability of the building and the wellness of their staff, clients and construction partners.
Their success at the 2021 Fit Out Awards recognises the contribution of the entire team: “We have a big team in the company and we are blessed with hard-working and loyal staff,” Bernard continues. “We’re also lucky to have a high degree of customer retention. This award is great for the staff and is due recognition of how hard they have worked to get us to where we are today. It really is a complete team effort.”
Staff wellbeing and personal development have always been central to the Metec ethos and their open and vibrant workspace is one of the most considerate and staff-friendly in Ireland, designed and built to maximise staff comfort, contentment and togetherness. How was this impacted upon by the public health emergency restrictions, which were by their very nature geared towards keeping people apart?
“It has been very difficult but we have still tried to maintain that strong staff culture any way we possibly can,” says Bernard. “We had a staff day out in October – which was outdoors and completely Covid-compliant – and this was great for team bonding. It was a welcome opportunity for people who hadn’t seen each other face to face in a while to come together.
“That sense of culture is very important to us and it’s not enough just to have all the right buzzwords. We treat mental health seriously and strive to create a working environment where everybody knows they have the full support of the company at all times and they can grow and thrive within the business, both professionally and personally. We’re more than happy to facilitate working from home or whatever measures are required to keep our people safe, happy and productive.”
As well as scooping the Professional Consultancy of the Year gong, Metec were also shortlisted in the Excellence in Sustainability category at the 2021 Fit Out Awards – a wholly appropriate achievement as they have a dedicated sustainability team boasting a proven track record in delivering turnkey LEED assessments and understanding and applying the synergies between other rating systems such as NZEB, BREEAM and WELL.
Indeed, delivering high-performance, sustainable, green buildings comes as second nature to Metec Consulting Engineers: “It’s a huge part of what we do,” Bernard concurs. “We have eleven full-time sustainability engineers and consultants within our team and our LEED-qualified staff place a huge emphasis on the importance of working towards zero carbon buildings and can advise clients on how to achieve those targets.”
From mechanical & electrical engineering services to renewable, sustainable and low energy design, building energy ratings as well as light ventilation and heating analysis, building performance simulation modelling, NZEB and Part L compliance studies, Building Information Modelling, Revit MEP, lift and vertical transportation analysis and due diligence survey and reporting, Metec’s expertise and dedication ensures that their customers get the highest quality solution specific to their precise needs and requirements, with keen attention to detail and strong customer engagement ensuring complete client satisfaction every time.
Fresh from their success at the Fit Out Awards, Metec accepted a Sandyford Business District award for their achievements in sustainability at One South County – a project completed to the highest standards within the M&E budgets, achieving LEED Gold, BER A3 and Wiredscore Platinum certifications. Phase One was a €30m shell & core new build project comprising some 145,000 sq ft; Metec are currently in the process of completing Phase Two of One South County, which will add a further 90,000 sq ft of commercial office space.
Another current project is Coopers Cross – an ambitious 350,000 sq ft mixed-use campus for Kennedy Wilson targeting the latest building innovation and highest sustainability standards.
Metec Consulting Engineers are also extremely active in the residential and retail sectors at present. They have completed 23 stores for Primark and will be exceptionally busy for this client in the coming months and years, collaborating on projects in Ireland north and south as well as France and Romania.
Regarding the strengths and attributes that have contributed most to Metec’s exponential growth over the past decade-and-a-half, Bernard reveals: “Developing and building relationships is key, as well as having great engineers. There’s a huge emphasis on energy efficiency at the moment – maximising the efficiency of the building whilst reducing the impact that building and its services will have on the environment. We give all of that information at an early stage to allow the client to make the earliest possible decisions on their building.
“We have completed projects throughout the island of Ireland, in the UK and central Europe – the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, France Italy and Germany. We are currently working in France, Germany, Romania, the UK, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland,” the managing director concludes. “Our intention is to continue growing the business going forward and, to this end, we are actively reviewing and assessing new opportunities.”
Metec Consulting Engineers,
La Vallee House,
Upper Dargle Road,
Bray,
County Wicklow.
Tel: 01 2040005
Email: [email protected]
Web: metec.ie
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, May 2022, Vol 8 No 5
