2019 Construction & Engineering Awards

2019 Construction & Engineering Awards BUILD 105 “We have seen a massive culture shift since undergoing this journey. Communication throughout the organisation has increased dramatically which in turn has led to a great morale boost and broad buy-in and belief in the CI methodology. This CI programme has also brought in many staff benefits such as free Health Screening and an Employee Assistance Programme to support our staff.” To this day, the company remain passionate about changing the perceived norms of their industry, realising that they are in a commanding position to ‘lead the pack’ towards real, achievable change. Nowhere is this more evident than in Alucraft’s drive towards equality in the construction landscape, as Jack continues. “We are passionate about building equality in the construction sector and currently run an event on International Women’s Day where we invite students from a local all-girls school into our offices to hear from some of the women in our organisation. As part of the event, we introduce students to roles such as Quantity Surveying, Structural Engineering, Façade Design, Purchasing and Procurement. The speakers on the day bring the students through their chosen career path, why they decided to work in the construction industry and their experience thus far. The aim of the event is to spark an interest in some of the students to consider a career in construction.” Like many of their peers in the specialist construction sphere, Alucraft experienced difficulty in attracting new third level talent which had little investment during the downturn. However, even here, they are seeing opportunities for growth amidst the challenge, establishing a comprehensive graduate programme to attract this emerging talent. “Essentially, we are seeing a greater need for upskilling and educational programmes in the future. To adapt to these changes, we set up a graduate programme in 2018 in order to develop organic home-grown talent and to build awareness of the Alucraft brand throughout third level universities and colleges”. Other than that, as Jack continues, the company is always aware of areas of potential development, innovation and improvement. “More than that, Alucraft constantly aspire to ‘reflect excellence’ in everything we do and therefore began on a ‘Lean’ journey when we recognised areas within our business that would benefit from its implementation along with the value-add to our clients. We therefore decided to apply ‘Lean’ thinking to render better processes within our organisation. This programme has already seen many benefits with some 10 people undergoing Green Belt training and further initiatives planned for the future.” By all regards, the future of Alucraft lies in expansion, as Jack explains in his closing comments: “In 2018, investment firm Elaghmore bought shares in the business and they plan to grow the business profitably though organic growth and acquisitively to circa € 100m turnover.” By all regards, the future is very bright indeed for this industry leader. Company: Alucraft Name: Jack McHugh, Group Managing Director Address: Unit AF40, Cloverhill Industrial Estate, Clondalkin, Dublin 22, D22 HY51, Ireland Website: www.alucraftgroup.com Telephone: +353 (0) 1 460 5400