As befits a company with over 40 years of operation, County Wexford-based BHA Construction’s experience and expertise continues to enjoy a strong reputation within the Irish marketplace. This is further underlined by the ongoing award recognition that the company continues to enjoy, such as the ICE Award nomination for its work at 16 Harcourt Street in Dublin.
“It was a really nice project to be involved in for a repeat client so it’s great that it’s receiving award recognition, not just for ourselves but for the whole team behind the development,” explains Shane Curran, Operations Director. “For any project to be successful, everyone involved had to be fully onboard and pulling in the same direction.
“It was quite a complex contract and was a fairly unique for us because there were so many different elements to it. The building itself is of historical importance, so there was a significant focus on conservation on top of the intricate internal and courtyard work that the development entailed.”
Despite the challenges involved in the project, BHA was able to overcome them all thanks to experience, as the award nomination demonstrates. This has enabled the company to build a strong reputation across Ireland, developing a turnover of €50m supported by 110 directly employed staff.
Further emphasising BHA’s quality-led approach, staff member Wayne Dunbar has also been shortlisted within the Construction Project Manager of the Year (up to €15m category) at the ICE Awards. “Again, it’s great that our staff are getting the recognition for their hard work,” says Shane. “We are a very people-centric company so this is very important to us. They are essential to bringing the designs to life.
“The key to our successes is very simple and that’s the people. This has been ingrained into the company by its founder Brendan O’Connor since the very beginning and the strong family values that have been passed down. This is reflected in our relationships with staff, clients and suppliers.
“Under the aegis of Stephen Duggan, who recently came in as our Managing Director, we’ve had a renewed emphasis on training regime to maximise the potential of our employees. This is matched by our ongoing investment in leading edge technologies to ensure we remain highly competitive.”
This emphasis on its people in particular has been a hallmark of BHA over the years and has helped it put the foundations in place to support the opportunities that the Irish market is continuing to see.
“We’ve seen our turnover grow year-on-year for a long time now and we are on course to do so again this year thanks to the strong and healthy pipeline of work we have in place, particularly in housing. We have contracts in place for the next three to four years so there’s lots to focus on. The market is extremely buoyant at the moment so we’re keen to increase our headcount and push on with ever larger projects. We’re very confident about the future.”
Given all it has achieved over the past four decades, not to mention its ongoing award recognition, this confidence is well founded as BHA keeps progressing as a business.