In March, John Sisk & Son Ltd was nominated in the category for a Commercial Project over €10million at the Irish Construction Excellence awards. Building Ireland learned all about the project at 10 Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2 from company Contracts Manager Alan Comber.
It is a great honour for Sisk & the Earlsfort Terrace/ Arthur Cox Fitout Project Team to be nominated” – is the way Alan Comber put it after learning that John Sisk & Son Ltd had been amongst the nominees for the Commercial Project over €10million award at Irish Construction and Excellence (ICE) Awards.
The project itself had involved the construction of a seven-storey building over double basement Grade A office block for leading Irish law firm Arthur Cox’s new Head Offices.
Sisk constructed the shell and core under a separate contract for leading developer Clancourt that also overlapped with early access fit out.
The company began work in early 2015 and Arthur Cox moved into the new premises in March 2017.
For Alan Comber, it was another excellent project completed to add to his already impressive CV since joining John Sisk & Son Ltd as a graduate engineer in 2000 and continuing his experience leading to becoming a Contracts Manager with the company over six years ago.
Indeed Alan has developed excellent experience in several types of construction development from commercial, leisure, retail and residential as well as some civils.
“At the moment, I’m occupied with another Office Block Development for Clancourt at Three Park Place on Hatch Street,” the NUI Galway graduate outlined. “This is another development continuing Sisk’s successful partnership with Clancourt in developing their properties in the Hatch Street/ Harcourt Street area.”
Alan’s work as Contracts Manager previously included a number of projects at Dublin Airport most notably the Transport Security Administration (TSA) in Terminal 2 and more recently the Terminal 1 Retail Strategy (Duty Free) Projects. Both developments were constructed in a fully live and operational airport.
Works involved careful management to ensure Airport and Passenger operations were not affected. The TSA project was successfully completed ahead of programme and within budget target overcoming some significant difficulties to achieve this completion.
The T1RS project was an extremely challenging project, according to Alan, carried out in the hub of T1 with approximately 20,000 passengers daily passing through the site environs. As well as the initial scope of works, the early surveys identified extensive structural works to be carried out.
There were extensive project planning, methodology and sequencing required to ensure continuation of Airport operations 24/7. As with all Airside projects significant access and security procedures were maintained. The Main Phase of the project was successfully handed over within the extremely tight programme amid major budgetary constraints.
Another piece of the “great experience” Alan’s gained to date with John Sisk & Son Ltd was on the aforementioned project at 10 Earlsfort Terrace, which earned a nomination at the recent ICE awards.
The site at Earlsfort Terrace was a city centre site with streets on two sides and four Georgian buildings on another side, which were also restored and refurbished by Sisk.
The fit out included raised access floors, SAS ceilings and BENE glazed/pre-finished partitions, the floor layouts are 80% cellular, barring the 6th floor, with multiple meeting rooms for client and executive meetings.
A key outcome was the availability of floors as early as possible for the fit out and move in.
“The project started in early 2015 and I arrived on it in March of that year,” Alan explained.
“There were a few different challenges with it and, like with any project, we took important decisions during the job to get the work done more efficiently. Sisk had assembled an excellent team suited to the type and requirements of the project and this contributed no end to its success”
“There were day-to-day challenges that you could say came up from some ‘ring rustiness’ from lack of heavy construction activity in particular for some of our larger supply chain operators during the recession years.
“I feel with this job that a lot of contractors got back up to speed. We were on it for a year-and-a-half before fit-outs commenced in April 2016. It was a big benefit for all to get the fit-out started on the project three months ahead of Shell & Core Completion. There were several advantages to this as the Shell & Core and Fitout respective project teams were able to collaborate and plan certain elements of work into a co-ordinated sequence to give programme and cost benefit to both clients.”
The building itself has a very high level of environmental sustainability. In fact, it’s 26 per cent more energy-efficient than is required under building regulations.
It boasts the highest achievable environmental rating, using rain water harvesting to provide up to 40 per cent of water used.
It also has highly efficient combined heat and power systems and generates hot water from rooftop solar panels.
All of this combined for the 10 Earlsfort Terrace being nominated for best Commercial Project over €10million at the ICE Gala Awards Event in the Round Room, Mansion House in Dublin on March 23rd.
The original and premier recognition of performance excellence for the contracting sector in Ireland, entry to the awards is open to Building Contractors, Civil Engineering Contractors, Specialist M&E Contractors, Specialist Contractors, Construction Product Suppliers and, in 2018, Third Level Colleges offering certain construction related courses.
All in all, John Sisk & Son had been shortlisted for six awards at but ended up missing out on the gong for the Commercial Project over €10million.
“It is great to have been on the shortlist and great to be recognised in that way and a testament to the hard work and dedication of all involved in the project,” Alan reiterated on awards night.
On the night, the company would pick up 3 awards including the prestigious award for ‘Project of the Year’ for its work on the Páirc Uí Chaoimh GAA stadium in Cork.
The famous sports ground alongside the River Lee underwent an extensive redevelopment which resulted in a multipurpose floodlit bowl-shaped arena that can accommodate a capacity of 45,300 for games, including 21,300 seats under cover.
Taken from Building Ireland Magazine, June 2018, Vol 4 No 5
