JPC Monthly Rewind: August

Appointment of Brian Ahern - MEP Director

In a move aimed at further strengthening our Senior Leadership Team, we were delighted to announce the appointment of Brian Ahern as MEP Director.

Brian joined the business from global data centre developer, Equinix, where he was Director responsible for a major portfolio of data centre projects across multiple geographies. Prior to that he worked with Laing O’Rourke in the UK as a Data Centre Sector Lead. Going forward, Brian will have overall responsibility for the MEP Services function across all areas of the company.

Commenting on Brian’s appointment, Liam Kenny, Managing Director of John Paul Construction, said: “I am delighted to welcome Brian to the company. As we continue to grow our business across a diverse portfolio of projects, and in particular across the highly technical data centre, mission critical, life sciences and medtech sectors, Brian will work closely with the leadership team to enhance and further develop our MEP services department and capabilities ensuring that we continue to deliver to the highest standards for our clients. We are excited to have Brian join us and we wish him every success.”

Summer Ready Safety Campaign

During the summer period there are a range of additional safety issues that can lead to accidents and incidents. This is why we run a 'Summer Ready Safety Campaign' across our projects from June to August, in order to focus on:

1. Occupational Health – UV protection, silica dust, hydration, and general health

2. Management / Supervision – ensuring that there is adequate handovers and cover during all holiday periods

3. Complacency – maintaining focus at all levels prior to taking holidays, after holidays, and including bank holidays

4. Mental Health & Wellbeing – keeping wellbeing at the top of the agenda all year round

These key aspects help us to maintain the highest safety standards right through the summer months. Over this period, we also used the services of Mick Loughran, James Gorry and Theatre at Work across many of our projects to enhance our safety culture and messaging on site.

New Solar Panels

We recently completed the installation of a 30kW solar PV system at our plant department. This comprised of 64 Jinko solar panels, of which each panel provides an output of 0.47kW.

The system is connected to a Huawei inverter, with excess energy exported back to the grid.

This installation is part of our Sustainability Roadmap and our journey towards Net Zero Carbon.

EMPOWER | Future Leaders Programme

As part of our ‘EMPOWER’ Future Leaders Programme, we spotlighted the key topics of Climate Change and Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) with a cohort of emerging leaders.

Bronwyn Hall McLoughlin (People Planet Change) and Susan Doyle (Climate Fresk) kicked off the day with an engaging Climate Fresk workshop. This interactive, card-based game, informed by IPCC reports, guided us through understanding climate change, sparking insightful ideas and a commitment to action both individually and at a company level.

In the afternoon, Damian McCourt from DCM led an impactful session on DE&I, exploring the journey to becoming an inclusive leader and the importance of recognizing unconscious bias.

Placement Students - Foundations for Success

We welcomed our placement students to Head Office for our annual ‘Foundations for Success: Placement Review & Graduate Opportunities’ session.

Students delivered insightful presentations, reflecting on their summer experiences with us. It was great to see their passion for construction and innovation as they shared key learnings from their time onsite. Our Placement Review is invaluable, offering us the opportunity to gather feedback and continue improving our program.

We wish these talented students from - Civil, Structural & Mechanical Engineering, Construction Management, Building Engineering, and Environmental Health & Safety - the very best as they return to their studies. We look forward to seeing them excel in their future careers and hopefully welcome them back to John Paul Construction in the near future.

Upskill Training - Frankfurt

It was great to see the focus on Plant / Person interfaces and Lifting Operations on our data centre project in Frankfurt. We welcomed Damien O'Reilly from O'Reilly Training Ltd and Gregory Higgins, our Company Crane Coordinator to site where they carried out a multiple of talks, demonstrations, and upskill training for slinger/signallers and telehandler operators which was very well received by all who attended these important talks.

The importance of events like this cannot be underestimated as we build on a positive start on our first data centre project in Germany.

Dragons at the Docks 2024

Our Harcourt Square team took to the River Liffey for Dragons at the Docks 2024.

The team, made up of 10 paddlers and 1 drummer, successfully reached the final of the construction challenge at this incredible event racing world-class Dragon Boats.

The annual event raises much-needed funds for the Dublin Simon Community, who work to prevent and address homelessness. Well done to all who took part in aid of this fantastic cause.