Ganson Building and Civil Engineering Ltd.’s exceptional senior Surveyor Robert Dugdale has been shortlisted for the prestigious Future Leader Planner & Surveyor award at this year’s Irish Construction Excellence Awards. A member of the Ganson team for all of his professional career to date, Westmeath man Robert thrives on the variety of projects delivered by this industry-leading contractor.
Accurately reflecting its status as one of Ireland’s most progressive building and civil engineering contractors, Ganson Building & Civil Engineering Ltd. is on the shortlist for no fewer than three major awards at the 2025 Irish Construction Excellence Awards.
Ganson is in the running in the Residential Social & Affordable Over €20M category for its superb Inchicore ‘Housing with Supports’ Development and in the Education category for Dublin 7 Educate Together National School, Grangegorman, while in-house senior Surveyor Robert Dugdale is on a shortlist of four for the Future Leader Planner & Surveyor award.
Needless to say, Robert is honoured to have received this recognition from his employers and also from his peers in the industry: “I must say it’s been very unexpected and it was great news to get,” he told Building Ireland. “I was never put forward for an ICE award before, so it was nice just to be selected by Ganson in the first place and then to be shortlisted was fantastic.
“The company has a couple of projects up for awards on the night as well, so we’re looking forward to a good night and hopefully we’ll manage to take home at least one award. But we’ve had no celebrations yet – the champagne is on ice, we’ll see what happens…”
The winners will be announced at the ICE Awards Gala Event on May 1st at the Convention Centre Dublin – a key date in the industry’s social calendar to highlight best performance across the full range of construction disciplines and project categories. The ICE Awards night is a celebration of the industry’s most ground-breaking achievements, shining a spotlight on innovation, creativity, design and craftsmanship.
Leaders in construction evolution, Ganson Building & Civil Engineering are dedicated to delivering high quality services and completing projects to the highest building standards – invariably on time and within budget.
The Ganson Group have successfully developed a committed and experienced team with expertise in all aspects of interior fit out and project management for both new build and refurbishment projects. The company has built up significant resources and staff, and pride themselves on their ability to adapt and deliver a range of projects for clients.
The group has a proven capability and outstanding track record of completing bespoke projects including those requiring detailed complex engineering solutions, both design and installation. An approved team of specialist suppliers and subcontractors has been built up over the years and have partnered with Ganson on a number of high-profile projects.
Robert’s exciting career with Ganson began over twelve years ago, in December 2012, and he has become a key member of the team during the intervening years. “I’ve been with them ever since, apart from one year where I went travelling to Australia,” he reveals. “I worked over in Australia, too, and it was nice to learn how they do things over there and to bring those learnings back with me to Ganson.
“I joined straight out of college as a graduate Surveyor / assistant Surveyor and have worked my way up to senior Surveyor. It’s been a great journey so far because the company has grown at the same time. There were only a handful of people in the office when I joined and the biggest project would have been around €1m. Now, we have a team of about 150 people and we’re delivering a wide range of projects of up to €45m, so it has certainly been an exciting period both personally and for the company.”
A leading contractor in all sectors of both public and private works throughout Ireland and the UK, Ganson has successfully designed and built projects across the Civil Engineering, Healthcare, Restoration & Refurbishment, Commercial & Retail, Education and Residential sectors, and continues to experience exponential growth.
With over twenty years’ experience, the company – which was established in 2004 by Paul McQuaid and David Rogers and has offices in Dublin and Castlewellan, County Down – has amassed vast experience in all procurement routes including traditional build, design & build, management contracting and early contractor engagement.
“Our turnover has risen to over €100m and we are growing year on year,” says Robert. “There’s a lot of work going on at the moment and we have proven that we can deliver a vast range of public and private works, so there’s strong demand for our services.”
The secret to Ganson Building & Civil Engineering Ltd.’s popularity? “I think a big part of it is that we’re not getting ahead of ourselves or taking on too much. We’re working consistently with the same core group of stakeholders and clients and have a good mix of public and private work. When we started out at the back end of the recession, all our work was public, but it’s now 70:30 public:private.
“We also work regularly with tried and trusted subbies and suppliers, which is important too as a good supply chain will always keep you right. It all boils down to quality workmanship – we deliver projects that exceed expectations, finish them to the most exacting standards and then move on to the next one and keep it right the whole way through, every time.”
Ongoing projects Robert was involved in at the time of writing included an eight-classroom extension and refurbishment of the existing building at St Joseph’s Mercy Primary School, the nearby Johnstown Education Campus Phase 2 and a three-block apartment complex of 163 apartments over a basement at Donabate, Dublin as well as work for Ryanair, the National Aquatic Centre and a new swimming pool at St Michael’s College in Dublin 4.
“We do a lot of schools, nursing homes and apartment blocks. There’s a very healthy mix of project types, with plenty of variety, which I really enjoy,” concludes Ganson’s award-nominated senior Surveyor.
Ganson Building and Civil Engineering Contractors Ltd.,
Unit 19 Balbriggan Business Park.
Balbriggan,
County Dublin.
Te1: 01 6905716
Email: info@ganson.ie
Web: ganson.ie
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, June 2025, Vol 11 No 6
Ganson Building and Civil Engineering
