BAM Ireland has continued to make its mark in the national construction industry with a reported annual increase in turnover of 13% in 2018.

The firm released data on its 2018 performance, which included pre-tax profits of €14 million and a projected 2019 turnover of €600m.

Marking another successful year for the business, the company highlighted its progress towards a goal of halving CO2 intensity by 2030, its commitment to purchasing 100% of its electricity from renewables by 2020, investing €1.5 million to convert its fleet to electric vehicles and increasing use of environmentally friendly materials. 

2018 also saw the firm complete major projects, like the €86.9m Air Traffic Visual Control (ATVC) tower at Dublin Airport, and begin work on the key Horgan's Quay Development, a major six-acre rejuvenation scheme for Cork City. BAM was confirmed as the main contractor for Phase B of the New Children's Hospital, having begun work on the first phase the year previous, while the contractor's One Microsoft Place scheme won Project of the Year at the 2019 ICE Awards.

Commenting on the results, Theo Cullinane, BAM Ireland CEO said: "I am pleased to report on yet another successful year at BAM, marked by strong progress on some of the country's most significant private projects, including the Navigation Square and Horgan’s Quay developments in Cork and the renovation of Dublin's Bolands Quay into a home for one of the world's tech leaders. We were also awarded the contract for Phase B of the New Children's Hospital and continued work on the N25 New Ross Bypass PPP Scheme.

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"We have also strengthened our position as a leader in our sector in tackling climate change. Construction is obviously a vital industry but by its nature it is resource-intensive. We have taken a number of measures to meet our serious commitment of halving our carbon intensity by 2030 and we will not relent in this regard.

"Our turnover has increased by 13% year-on-year, spurred on by the continuing upturn in construction activity seen across Ireland in recent years. We currently employ over 2,000 people, both directly and indirectly, across our sites and offices. To all of these people, I wish to express my sincere gratitude for their contribution to a fruitful 2018."

While welcoming the increased activity of the business, Mr Cullinane also raised conversation on some of the more worrying challenges of the construction sector.

"It continues to remain in a fragile state, and we have just seen the first contraction of the Purchasing Managers Index for a number of years," he said. "Little progress has been made on delivering much needed Infrastructural projects. Margins remain far too low and make reinvestment difficult. We have all seen the problems caused by the reliance on adversarial public contracts and processes, confirmed by the PwC report, which is something BAM has been flagging for many years. This has the real potential to cast doubt over the Government's ability to deliver the Project Ireland 2040 plans, especially if large international firms are not willing to partner on their delivery. I welcome the recent comments by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform that these are to be reviewed and would strongly recommend the adoption of Early Contractor Involvement in major public projects of scale. Government must take its share of the risk on major projects; this will achieve better oversight, better certainty on costs and better outcomes for taxpayers' money."

(CM/JG)