In May, Flynn scooped the ‘Health, Safety & Wellbeing Initiative’ award at the prestigious Irish Construction Excellence Awards in the Convention Centre Dublin. Building Ireland caught up with Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) Manager, Sinead Hodgins to hear more about the company’s award success, current projects and overall hopes going forward.
Originally founded in 2004 by Mick Flynn and Kevin Flynn the company is renowned for successfully delivering high quality and sustainable construction projects, specialising in critical environments across Ireland the UK and EU.
These past 12 months have seen continued growth at the award-winning construction and fit-out firm Flynn.
Flynn currently employs over 200 direct staff, with its headquarters based in Glasnevin, Co Dublin and further branches in Limerick, Cork, London, Frankfurt and Copenhagen.
Sinead Hodgins has been a part of the Flynn family for nine years now and last year saw her becoming the company’s EHS Manager.
Building Ireland touched base with the Co Galway native to discuss the ins and outs of the business, her role within it and the team’s most recent success at the ICE Awards at the beginning of May.
“Initially, my career began in Business & Marketing which led me to join the family business. My father is a glazing contractor, so I always had a natural interest in construction and began to develop an interest in Health and Safety,” Sinead outlined.
“From there, I transitioned from working in the office to a construction site with my fathers company who was working on a project for Flynn at the time. During my time on site I built a close relationship with the Flynn team, particularly Edel Corrigan, Group HSQE Manager, and I was given an opportunity to join the Flynn team and progress in my career.”
She explained, “No two days in my role are ever the same; each day brings new challenges and opportunities, whether I’m collaborating with project teams, Design Teams or liaising with senior leadership. I work closely with Edel Corrigan, our Group HSQE Manager, whose mentorship and guidance has been invaluable.
“Within our Health and Safety Department we are constantly looking at how we can continually improve our systems, ensuring they are effectively implemented on-site, and reviewing compliance across all projects to identify areas for improvement.
“For me, it’s incredibly rewarding to be part of a team and company who value health and safety and are committed to creating safer and more efficient environments. It’s a dynamic, fast-paced role that keeps me on my toes, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
An international forward thinking Construction company, Flynn’s vision since its inception has been to deliver sustainable work environments, empowering its staff to achieve their ambitions.
It has endeavoured to carry out this vision over these last 21 years and, right now, business is flourishing for the company.
“The business has continued to grow in the last year and we have expanded into the international markets,” said the EHS Manager.
“One of our key priorities during growth was maintaining our culture, especially as we expand and develop our teams internationally.”
Flynn has carried out work with a variety of blue-chip Irish-based and international clients, while it recently delivered a high-scale project for a key client in the Dublin city centre.
So, that considered, the clear question is what has been the secret behind the remarkable success of this venture over the past two decades?
“The leadership and people in the company are key to its success, we take pride in the work that we do and the can-do attitude of our project teams is a significant part of the success,” Sinead pointed out.
“We are a solution driven company. We work closely with our design teams and clients which has led to repeat business and the portfolio of clients that we have.”
Indeed, it’s very much a team effort at Flynn and that team gained more recognition on a national scale this past May with success at the prestigious Irish Construction Excellence (ICE) Awards.
Held at the Convention Centre Dublin on May 2nd, the awards themselves are the original and premier recognition of performance excellence for construction in Ireland and, going by Sinead’s tone, Flynn were both delighted and privileged to come away with the ‘Health, Safety & Wellbeing Initiative’ award on the night.
“We were honoured to win the ICE award, and it is a testament to the hard work and the dedication of the HSQE team and project teams across the organisation. From our on-site workers to our site management, our supporting departments and our senior leadership teams,” she said.
“The award validates the ethos of the company to ensure our workforce returns home safe without injury, ill health or harm at the end of each day and it’s a fantastic acknowledgement of the culture that has been instilled in the company.”
She added: “Edel Corrigan, Laura Girvan and Sinead Gorman went up to accept the award on the night. The Health and Safety team worked together in developing the award submission which was led by Sinead Gorman.
“From here Edel and I presented the submission during the interview process at the Convention Centre and, the entire process from the submission to the interview stage was so thorough and professional, the calibre of judges, their experience and attention to detail throughout the process and made it both challenging but also very rewarding.
“Through the interview stage in particular, it was great to get the opportunity to showcase, not just our initiatives and submission, but the passion that we have for health safety and well-being in the company.”
With business thriving and another coveted award alongside its name, it’s no surprise to hear that the company’s hopes for the coming months and heading towards its 22nd year is for more of the same.
“Mainly we want to continue doing what we’re doing and consistently look at how we can challenge ourselves to continue to grow and look at more innovative and proactive approaches to leading Health & Safety on site while empowering others to do the same.
“We’re continuing to work very closely with our partners and organisations such as the Lighthouse Charity, the Construction Workers Health Trust, Theatre at Work Group who really support us in promoting a positive culture across our sites in collaboration with our clients and trade partners,” Sinead concluded.
Flynn
Flynn House,
Blackwater Road,
Glasnevin,
Dublin (D11 KN66)
Tel: +353 1 850 3000
Email: [email protected]
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, September, Vol 11 No 10
