Leading Irish company John Paul Construction has appointed Helen Forbes as Human Resources (HR) Director, in a move aimed at further strengthening its Senior Leadership team.

With a career that includes senior HR roles with large multi-nationals such as Aviva Ireland and General Electric (GE), Helen Forbes has established a strong track record for sustaining trusted business relationships. Importantly for John Paul Construction, which has diversity and inclusion at its heart, she is focused on nurturing talent in ways that empower people to play to their strengths.

Commenting on Helen’s appointment, Liam Kenny, Managing Director of John Paul Construction, says: “I am delighted to welcome Helen to the company. She will work with our Senior Leaders to deliver on our strategic objectives with respect to our number one asset: our people. These objectives include enhanced employee engagement and wellbeing initiatives, professional development and performance management and talent attraction and retention in what is a very competitive market. We’re excited to have Helen join us and we wish her every success.”

Most recently, as People Director at Aviva Ireland, Helen led the company’s People & Culture strategy. At John Paul Construction, which in 2022 grew its workforce to over 500 employees, she will focus on aligning and consolidating the company’s people development and leadership development practices, while equipping the fast-growing workforce with the skills to develop both professionally and personally. The last few years have seen strong growth at the company despite the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic and, most recently, the war in Ukraine. Liam Kenny attributes much of this success to the company’s robust culture, which has supported people to remain agile and resilient through a period of significant growth and change.

Helen joins the company at an exciting stage, just as the construction industry is experiencing growing demand for its services both at home and internationally. On her new role, she says: “I’m so excited to be working with John Paul Construction. This is a company and a leadership team that really understands that people are the most important factor in their success.”

Founded in 1949, John Paul Construction is a leading international construction specialist. Headquartered in Dublin, with regional offices in Cork and Galway and international offices in London, Amsterdam, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Today it provides a comprehensive range of construction services to clients across a wide range of sectors.

Pictured above: Helen Forbes and Liam Kenny