CitA SME Digital Acceleration Series: Be Innovative – October 2023

Éadaoin Ní Fhearghail

Éadaoin Ní Fhearghail is an Architectural Advisor with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage’s Climate and Construction Innovation Unit, on the Construction Innovation side. She works on delivery of actions under Housing for All related to Modern Methods of Construction, construction innovation and research, construction costs and will also support the new DAFM-led Timber in Construction Working Group. Éadaoin is a registered Architect, with additional qualifications in Housing Studies, Town Planning and Environmental Management and has previously worked in the private sector on design and delivery of medium- and high-density housing schemes.

Diarmuid McGowan

Diarmuid McGowan is a Senior Quantity surveyor, MMC Design & Build Advisor for the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. He has over 28 years experience as a Quantity Surveyor, having worked in the private sector as a PQS and as a contractor’s QS for a combined 10 years and in the public sector for over 18 years. He has worked for Dún Laoghaire, Fingal and Wicklow County Councils.

Diarmuid is a member of the Society of Chartered Surveys of Ireland, MSCSI MRICS. Over the last 7 years he has Project Managed twenty D&B projects which all incorporated different elements of Modern Methods of Construction.

Norman Jackson

Norman Jackson is the Senior Projects and Procurement Advisor with the Housing Agency. The Procurement Unit he manages offers construction related procurement services and advice to Local Authorities and Approved Housing Bodies in accordance with ‘Housing for All’. The Procurement and Projects team of technical professionals, providing architectural, engineering, quantity surveying and procurement services in support of the delivery of social housing projects.

In March of this year his Procurement Unit were responsible for the publication of a Guidance Document for the use of PW-CF2 Public Works Contract for Building Works Designed by the Contractor as a mechanism of promoting innovation and Modern Methods of Construction. He is also a member of the assessment panel of a number of Competitive Dialogue procurement processes.

Norman is an active member and fellow of the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland.

Martin Searson

Martin Searson is the Head of Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) with NSAI (National Standards of Ireland) within the Certification Division. Martin has +25 years Mechanical and Electrical (M&E) and Construction industry experience. Previously, he was the Group M&E Quality & Lean Manager for a large engineering & construction firm, with operations in Ireland, UK and Mainland Europe. He has extensive quality management and regulatory compliance experience following work on key projects across a range of sectors including Semiconductor, Data Centres, Biopharmaceuticals, Windfarms, Substations up to 400kV, Industrial Manufacturing, Commercial fit-outs and Residential projects, across Ireland, UK and Mainland Europe.

Martin was a past winner of six National Quality Awards (with 7 consecutive nominations) and a Lean Business Ireland Award in 2019 with his previous Team, for their approach and implementation of quality management and lean construction principles, across Ireland, UK & Europe. Martin currently holds a Masters in Quantity Surveying, an Honours Degree in Applied Science from Trinity College Dublin and a Diploma in Quality Management.