Construction Jobs in High Demand Across Munster

As Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said recently in Pairc Ui Chaoimh, ‘All roads will no longer lead to Dublin’, and this can certainly be seen in the demand for construction jobs throughout Munster and in the volume of construction projects that are currently underway or about to commence in Cork, Waterford, Limerick, Tipperary, Kerry and Clare.

While the majority of projects are located in Cork city and county, each county in Munster has a variety of construction projects that require skilled workers.

Cork city has a range of projects from new hotels, office builds, to roadways, educational projects and pharmaceutical plants:

The Beasley Hotel near South Mall recently secured planning permission for a 165-bed project
€50m refurbishment of the Metropole (upgrading the 3 star hotel to 187 bedrooms and 4-star standard)
A new 228 bedroom ‘M’ hotel on Patrick’s Quay
On Sullivan’s Quay, a planning application was lodged for a 193-bedroom hotel
Another planning application was lodged for a 136-bedroom hotel on the new HQ development on Horgan’s Quay near Kent train station
€90m Navigation Square
€3m facelift for Kent railway station
77m Bon Secours Northern Block Extension Project

The Dunkettle Interchange
The N22 Macroom Bypass
The M20 Cork to Limerick motorway
€300m Janssen Sciences expansion of its Ringaskiddy facility in Cork harbour. 450 jobs will be created during construction, which begins later this month and is expected to take two years
€200m Eli Lilly expansion near Kinsale
€350m expansion for UCC (€64m expansion of student accommodation projects, €37m for a new Cork dental school, €27m on the development of its Western Campus, €90m on a new student hub, a new creative hub and investment in the Cork University Business School as well as flood protection measures, €23m on a new clinical medical school and €10m on ancillary regional developments including hospitals in Waterford, Kerry and Tipperary.)
A learning resource centre will be constructed at CIT in Cork as part of the €200m investment in 11 Institutes of Technology across Ireland
Proposed 6,000 seat Cork Events Centre

Limerick city centre is currently undergoing a significant €17.6m development at Henry Street, known as The Gardens International Office, which is part of the Limerick 2030 project. There was also a recently announced new applied science and information technology building at LIT (as part of the €200m development fund for 11 Institutes of Technology) and the soon to be opened Adare Manor.

In Waterford, a seven-hectare site at North Quay has been reportedly lined up for a €300m development by a Saudi development company, and could include a shopping centre, hotel and commercial units.

In Tipperary, Nenagh town will see a €10.5m redevelopment of a former shopping centre and an estimated 105 jobs created during construction.

The Shannon Free Zone in Co. Clare is undergoing a €25m redevelopment, that will see a new state-of-the-art facility for FDI and Irish companies looking for high-end office space. Also in Co. Clare is the €4.7m Ennis South Flood Relief Scheme.

Tralee, Kerry will also benefit from the investment in Institutes of Technology with a new €27.85m STEM (Science, Engineering, Technology, Maths) building at Tralee IT.

The impact of these projects in attracting talent to Munster cannot be underestimated. At Euro Executive Recruitment, we have seen a significant upturn in the number of people looking to move back to Munster from Dublin and Leinster and also from overseas locations.

These people are highly skilled professionals and they are keen to move back for a variety of reasons; career progression, a desire to work on high profile projects, a better work/life balance and quality of life with shorter commute times, something other than the grind of a city, getting away from the housing crisis in Dublin and a desire to forge a career with well known employers in Munster.

Denis Casey, Operations Director, Euro Executive Recruitment said, “There is certainly a real sense of optimism within the construction industry in Munster at the moment. And with the number of large, high-profile projects that are underway and lined up, this is creating a vibrant construction jobs market in Munster leading to increased opportunities for great talent, and of course, more competition for certain skills. In particular, we have found that there is significant demand for Quantity Surveyors and Site Engineers.”

Remuneration packages

A noticeable consequence of the increase in demand for certain skills and professions has been improvements in remuneration packages in order to attract the best talent. What we have found is that the range of benefits on offer are influencing the candidate’s decision making process more than ever before.

In particular, benefits such as a car allowance, company car, healthcare and pension hold a lot of weight. Previously, these benefits may not have been on offer, but employers have recognised the importance of quality benefits in attracting the best talent and have adjusted their offers accordingly.

“My advice to anyone in the construction industry who is considering moving back to Munster, is that this is the right time to start seriously looking at roles. With the breadth and depth of roles and projects in Munster, it is a very exciting time to be considering changing career as the opportunities are immense”

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