Over 180 people were in attendance at the new WIT Arena on Monday March 13th for the annual International Construction Management day
The International Construction Management day event highlighted the exciting career opportunities that exist within the construction sector both at home and abroad, whilst also giving some insight into life as a student on the BSc (Hons) Construction Management & Engineering (CME) degree at WIT.
Attendees included staff and students from the Department of the Built Environment at WIT, representatives from leading Irish construction companies, and teachers and students from two local secondary schools, Comeragh College and Ard Scoil na Mara. Programme Leader, Brian Graham, opened the event by welcoming everyone to the new WIT Arena and highlighting the good news stories that would be told by companies who are all good friends of CME at WIT.
Industry and graduate presentations on working in the construction industry
Colm Fitzgerald, Head of Construction Services with the PM Group, talked about the range of large-scale projects that his company are working on in Ireland, Europe and Asia. Colm was extremely positive about the variety of employment opportunities that are available for Construction Management graduates, with exciting and rewarding careers on offer in a dynamic industry.
Next up was Eoin Healy, a Project Engineer with one of Ireland’s leading building contractors, Clancy Construction. Eoin, who graduated from the Construction Management & Engineering programme in 2015, is currently working on the fit-out of Facebook’s new multi-million euro facility in Meath.
Tadhg Lucey, a director with BAM Contractors, gave an insight into some the amazing projects that he has worked on, including his current project, the New Ross Bypass and the iconic new Barrow River crossing. At over 900m in length, this extrados type bridge will be the longest bridge in Ireland and the longest bridge of this type in the world.
The first half of the event concluded with Declan Gahan and Brenda Ryan of Sisk, delivering a presentation about the company and their experiences of working with them. Declan, who is a Senior Contracts Manager, is currently overseeing the completion of West Pharma project on the outskirts of Waterford City. Brendan who graduated from the Construction Management & Engineering programme at WIT in 2016, is currently working on the Luas Cross City project, as part of Sisk’s prestigious 4 year Excelerate Graduate Programme.
Networking event a chance to meet the employers
Following these presentations, attendees had the opportunity to meet with representatives of the PM Group, Clancy Construction, BAM Contractors, Sisk, AECOM, Priority Construction, the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) and the Construction Industry Federation (CIF). This allowed current WIT students to discuss job prospects with employers and the secondary school students the chance to find out more about working in the construction industry.
CIOB awards and presentations
The second half of the event focused on the CIOB, who are the international professional body for Construction Managers. Four students from WIT recently competed in and won the national CIOB Student Challenge. Jason Fitzgerald, Anthony Browne, Mark Sheridan and Conor Walsh spoke about their experiences of the competition and how they managed to deliver a prize-winning report and presentation to the judging panel.
Lorcan Hickey (a 2016 CME graduate), presented an insight into his 4 years at WIT, with highlights including an Ersamus semester in Denmark and Industrial Placement with Laing O’Rourke on the Crossrail project in London. Currently working with Clancy Construction in Dublin, Lorcan was awarded the 2016 CIOB Medal for outstanding performance in his final year studies. Mandy Coleman of the CIOB was on hand to present Lorcan with his medal and also give certificates to the CIOB Challenge winning team.
WIT has strong links with the construction industry
In concluding the event, Rodger Greene, Programme Leader of the MSc in Construction Project Management, thanked all involved in making the event such a resounding success and noted the strong links that exist between the Construction Management programmes and the leading Irish construction companies.
For further information on the Construction Management & Engineering programme, please see www.wit.ie/wd025 or contact Brian Graham
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