Northern Ireland-based consultancy Turner & Townsend has announced the appointment of a brand new Managing Director.

Philip Matthews will succeed Mark Kelly as the MD of the firm's Ireland operations.

Mark is retiring at the end of April after seven years with the business. During Mark's leadership, he has overseen the exponential growth of Turner & Townsend in the market. Over the past three years, the global professional services firm has doubled in size in Ireland, and now has more than 250 staff across the Dublin and Cork offices. The Belfast office also continues to support activity on the island of Ireland.

Philip, who will take on the role from 01 May, has over 25 years of project and cost management experience, and has risen through the business, most recently serving as Head of Real Estate, Ireland, as well as sitting on the Ireland Board, Europe Board and the Europe Real Estate Sector Board.

Beyond Turner & Townsend, he is a chartered member of the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI) and the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), and he has sat as Chair of the SCSI Project Management Professional Group since June 2022.

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Philip's role will see him leading on, and overseeing, some of the largest, most complex programmes in the Irish real estate and infrastructure sectors.  These include Meta's new state-of-the-art EMEA campus in Dublin, EirGrid's Celtic Interconnector subsea power link with France, Dublin Airport Authority with their baggage and passenger security projects, and Ballymore's €500m mixed-use regeneration project at St James's Gate.

Paul Grace, European Managing Director at Turner & Townsend, said: "Mark Kelly has made an invaluable contribution to the company over 35 years. His dedication and determination have been instrumental in growing our Irish operations into what they are today. He retires with a huge amount to be proud of, and we look forward to building on this success with Philip’s appointment.

"Philip has clearly demonstrated his strong leadership, drive, and delivery for clients in his sterling work for the business over the past seven years. We are delighted to welcome him to his new role and have full confidence that he will continue to support clients' success as we see major investment across the country."

Philip Matthews, Managing Director of Ireland at Turner & Townsend, added: "Our business in Ireland has rapidly accelerated in recent years and Mark has been at the heart of this growth. He leaves us in a position of great strength due to the relationships we have with our clients, the talent we have in our team and the significant opportunities that exist in the marketplace.

"I am looking forward to building on this platform of success with our fantastic team, and to helping our clients deliver even greater value through projects and programmes that have a pivotal role to play in Ireland's future."