Managing success

THE engineering design and project management for the 100 acre IBM Technology Park in, Mulhuddart, Co Dublin, the biggest ever construction job in Ireland, is being carried out by the Project Management Group.

The Irish company won the contract for phase one of the park in a competition that involved at least two overseas competitors.

Executive chairman of Project Management, Mr Brian Kearney, would not disclose the cost of phase one and nor would IBM but the figure is understood to lie closer to £100 million than to £50 million.

The estimated capital cost of the buildings and fittings when the park is complete is £250 million. The first phase involves the construction of two factories which would provide 800 of the 2,850 jobs earmarked for the park.

Project Management is hoping that its services will be retained for the completion of the development. The company has prospered working with top multinational firms which have located in Ireland.

The Mulhuddart technology park contract involves the design of the site and the construction of two factories which between them measure, 273,000 square feet.

The 103 square foot IMD building, where semiconductor devices manufactured abroad will be tested, has to be finished and in operation by the end of the year. Project Management was informed it had won, the contract on January 3rd.

The second SSD building, for the manufacture of discs, will be 170 square feet in size, with 70,000 feet of that being a special "clean air" area where the sensitive manufacturing process will take place.

This building has to be complete and in operation by the second quarter of next year. Planning permission has just been submitted. Site development approval has already been granted and work on the site has begun.

A team of 70 is working on the project, in cooperation with architects from Scott Tallon Walker and Keane Murphy Duff. Construction is by Ove Arup.

The strategy of Project Management is to develop long term relationships with top companies locating in Ireland. "We regard ourselves as one of the benefactors of inward investment into Ireland," says Mr Kearney. (His business card is in English on one side and Japanese on the other.)

The companies they work with are in very dynamic markets and it is by concentrating on the customer's needs that his company has been successful, he says.

The companies have two principal needs when they decide to locate an activity here, they want the operation up and running very quickly; and because markets and products are forever changing, the companies need to be able to make changes right through the design and construction process.

"What goes on inside the building can change right up to the end and this puts added pressure on those involved."

The manufacturing section of the SSD building needs to have its air controlled so there is a minimum of 10 particles of minute dust per cubic metre.

Large volumes of filtered air have to be put through the section. The greatest generator of particles are the workers so they will have to wear, special gowns.

"A lot of modern factories in the electronic, food and healthcare industries need to be built to a very high standard of cleanliness. Over half the costs of a building can be in mechanical and electrical services."

The Project Management Group was set up in the early 1970s by Mr Kearney and his colleague in Irish Cement, Mr Jim Walsh. The two engineers opened an office in Ranelagh. One of their first customers was SmithKline Beecham, and they remain one of Project Management's best clients.

In 1976, as the company worked on the Marathon Kinsale Heads gasfield project, the number employed grew to 50. Project Management established a second office in Cork, "one of our better decisions".

The 1980s were difficult years, especially around 1984. Near the ends of 1987, the international engineering company, Foster Wheeler, suggested they form a joint venture. Project Management said they would sell 10 per cent of their equity to Foster Wheeler, and the deal was done in early 1988. By this time the number employed had grown to around 130.

Foster Wheeler now owns 25 per cent of the company, with senior management at Project Management owning the rest. The number employed has grown to 520, 70 per cent of whom would be professionals, mostly engineers.

The company is involved in major projects with Boston Scientific and Johnson and Johnson and other companies in the healthcare, electronics, pharmaceutical and food industries. It does 10 per cent of its work outside Ireland, mostly in Britain.

The target is for 25 per cent of business to be overseas by the end of the decade. Two sectors have been selected for special attention food engineering and the food and general consumer goods sector in Poland. The latter is a market that Mr Kearney considers to be "suited to our background and experience".

Reflecting on the success of his company, Mr Kearney says they were fortunate to be able to avail of export tax relief in their early days, as this allowed them invest in the company. Other factors which were important were the company's policy of "taking care of its staff" and the presence on the board of two nonexecutive directors who have backgrounds in disciplines other than those found in Project Management. "I'm a great fan of the non executive directors."