After an intense round of deliberations, the ICE Awards Judges have selected their 2024 category finalists from the record number of registered entries. The winners will be announced at the Gala Event which will take place on Friday, 24 May 2024 at the Convention Centre Dublin (CCD).

The Irish Construction Excellence Awards (ICE Awards) are the original and premier recognition of performance excellence for the contracting sector in Ireland and provide an opportunity for the industry to showcase and reward best practice across the full range of construction disciplines and project categories.

Award categories include Innovation in Construction, Public Building, Commercial, Health Safety & Wellbeing, Residential, Civil Engineering, Healthcare and the recently included Engineering Design Excellence and Architectural Design Excellence.

Best of the best

The 2024 Finalists include many notable nationwide projects showcasing the ‘best of the best’ in the construction sector in Ireland and highlighting Construction plays a pivotal role in the Irish economy, serving as a major driver of growth, employment, and infrastructure development and in delivering the NDP.

ICE Awards Director, Colin Walsh said, “It has been a challenging few years for the Irish construction sector but we are very much looking to have the opportunity to showcase Ireland’s construction talents. The ICE Awards 2024 finalists prove beyond doubt that our industry is delivering world-class projects for clients and the nation.

“The ICE Awards 2024 saw a record number of entries and the judges were extremely impressed by the quality of projects and the submissions brought before them. The Judges have spent weeks reviewing the entry material and had the unenviable task of selecting the very best of the best.”

Celebrating excellence  – 24 May Convention Centre Dublin

The ICE Awards is delighted to welcome back Ireland’s Reigning Queen of Comedy Deirdre O’Kane. Following on from her outstanding performance as the ‘Gala at Home’ MC, and CCD events Deirdre returns to provide her inimitable talents to the ICE Awards 2024 Gala Awards event.

A co-founder of Comic Relief in Ireland, Deirdre also recently fronted her own talk show – Deirdre O’Kane Talks Funny and debuted a brand new series, The Deirdre O’Kane Show, with Sky. Adding to the night will be great live music and entertainment from the outset.

“My colleagues and I wish the finalists all the very best, we look forward to celebrating the results at the ICE Awards 2024 Gala in the Convention Centre Dublin on 24 May. Affectionately now known as ‘Cnnstruction’s Big Night Out’ it’s shaping up to be a spectacular event, well deserved for the industry. We are delighted to have Deirdre O’Kane return as host and we are very much looking forward to meeting and greeting old friends and new at The Gala’”, said Colin.

Limited tickets for the ICE Awards 2024 Gala have been made available for general attendance.

Judging excellence

The Judging Process is in alignment with and in many cases exceeds best practice internationally. This makes the ICE Awards distinctive in rigour and prestige.

Experts from across the AEC disciplines have been assembled to judge the entries. The ICE Awards Judging Process is multi-level with a team of judges reviewing every entry and scoring with their expertise in mind. The construction project and sensitive finalists now move to the interview stage where shortlisted teams will meet the expert Judges, present their projects and have Q&A sessions. This level of engagement reaffirms the credibility and effort required by the entrants to win these prestigious awards.

The ICE Awards welcomes an esteemed panel of returning judges including  PJ Rudden, Chair of the Construction Sector Group (CSG) Innovation and Digital Adoption at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform; Mary Flynn, Co-Founder of Public BIM and Dublin City Council Quantity Surveyor; Phelim Devine, Design Director/Deputy Project Director of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board; John McGowan a Chartered Engineer and a former President of Engineers Ireland and of the Irish Academy of Engineers. John worked with Jacobs International as project director on the EPCM of Intel’s Fab10. Thereafter he went to work for Intel Ireland, including four years as the Facility Manager on the Leixlip campus, before being appointed General Manager of Intel Ireland; Keith Elliott is a project management specialist and former Associate Director of PM Group, Ireland’s largest Architecture and Engineering consultancy specialising in the delivery of complex projects in a variety of industry sectors. He has over 40 years’ experience in the design, project management and construction management of large projects including pharmaceutical facilities, power stations, data centres, natural gas infrastructure and energy from waste facilities; Gerard Harvey is the Assistant Principal Architect at the Office of Public Works, the architectural practice within the Office of Public Works, delivers a service of quality through the skilful provision of a comprehensive architectural design service to the Government and other public bodies; and Emma Hayes, Managing Director of Digital Built Consultants, a BIM and Digital Information Management Consultancy and Technological University Dublin Lecturer and many other outstanding experts; Marcella Murphy a chartered engineer and the Project Manager for the €130 million Parnell Square Cultural Quarter Project. The project includes demolition, construction of a new City Library, refurbishment of the existing Georgian buildings including the Hugh Lane Gallery and extensive public realm works.

Keith is coming up on 5 years on the judging panel. The project management specialist and former Associate Director of PM Group believes the event is such an important date on the construction calendar and because, ultimately, “we all like a pat on the back every now and again.” “Equally,” he adds, “companies thrive on being recognised as the best in their field.” He says it promotes a healthy sense of competition. “Companies are not just thinking ‘we’ll do this project well for our client,’ they’re thinking ‘we’ll do it better than well in the hopes of beating our rivals’. In my experience, the most routinely successful companies never stop putting themselves forward for awards.”

For 2024 the ICE Awards is delighted to welcome three industry leaders from architecture and project management. Yvonne Murphy, Aoife Flynn and Sarah McDonnell.

Yvonne is a Civil Engineer and Project Manager at Mott MacDonald designing and project managing a wide variety of schemes from river works/flood management to water and wastewater structures and networks. She is also an IRCA registered Lead Auditor of management systems to facilitate compliance with ISO 9001 (Quality), OHSAS 45001 (H&S) and ISO 14001 (Environmental) standards.

Aoife with nearly a decade of expertise in architecture and construction, brings proficiency and expertise as a Senior Construction Project Manager and Architect. Aoife is driven by crafting innovative and functional spaces that elevate the well-being and quality of life for users and communities. Previously, Aoife worked as an Architect for both private practice architectural firms and public works offices in the Department of Education. She is a registered Architect with the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland and also holds a Bachelor’s Degree in International Business. She has extensive experience in multiple sectors delivering residential, educational and commercial projects.

Sarah is Director of Project Management at TFT’s Dublin office. With over 25 years of industry expertise and a strong track record spanning various sectors, she has driven projects from inception to contract completion. Sarah’s career includes pivotal roles with a renowned Irish property developer and overseeing schemes for a number of leading Irish contractors. Her portfolio of work includes clients such as IPUT, Willis, JP Morgan, Google, KPMG, and Hines.

On joining the panel Yvonne says she hopes to see evidence that both the design and construction elements of a project have worked in tandem. “When you see projects where the design and construction have gone hand in hand, you can really see the added value.”

Sponsors

The ICE Awards acknowledges the ongoing support of its sponsors, many of who have supported the competition for years. The sponsors are well-known names in the industry, delivering quality products and services to construction in Ireland.

Gold Sponsors: Arthur Cox Solicitors, Autodesk Construction Cloud™, Aluprof UK, Etag Fixings and Sika Ireland,

Silver Sponsors: CERS (The Construction Executive Retirement Savings scheme), Brooks, Diatec and Surety Bonds.

Click here to view the 2022 Finalists and read more about the ICE Awards 2022 Judges and Sponsors.