Chartered Engineer Brendan Dervan, with more than 40 years of experience in M&E building services, offers three pieces of advice: A/ a good start is half the work; B/ software packages are fine but never lose touch with the fundamental principles of engineering; and C/ always present information for construction in a minimum of three ways, as it helps to identify problems at the design stage rather than discovering them on site during construction.

It’s all change these days in Uisce Éireann’s infrastructure delivery team as director Brian Sheehan tells the Engineers Journal about his new management team and fills us in on the work they have been doing behind the scenes to ready themselves for a highly ambitious delivery programme in 2023, including the team’s biggest recruitment drive to date. 

An unexpected ancient manufacturing strategy may hold the key to designing concrete that lasts for millennia.

Ciaran Fahy considers the role of the Standing Conciliator under the Public Works Contract as used by the Irish public sector for building and civil engineering projects since 2007.

Gaston Behal addresses some of the impediments to the energy efficiency improvement of rented homes versus private ownership homes, which is not only an Irish problem but a European one, as the residential sector accounted for almost 27% of the total energy consumption in the EU-27 countries in 2010 according to Eurostat.

Michal Dymet, chairperson of Engineers Ireland Cork Region, says the engineering profession runs in the family, with both of his parents involved in the field. He also loved, as a child, taking apart toys, while an important mentor taught him about the importance of the thoroughness of road design.