The Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has today announced that a €5 million Construction Technology Centre will be based in Galway.
The centre, which is being set up to accelerate research and innovation within the construction and built environment sector, will be housed at NUI Galway.
Tánaiste Varadkar confirmed this morning that the centre will have €5 million in funding, delivered over the course of five years.
He said that this project will ensure that Ireland is at the “cutting edge of new developments” in the construction sector, giving Irish companies and taxpayers an edge, and delivering modern infrastructure as efficiently as possible.
“We’re making sure that a diverse range of academics, skilled craft workers, industry experts and thought leaders feed into the work of the Centre,” Leo Varadkar said.
This is so that, “when businesses come for advice, they get accurate, up to date information that is informed by a broad range of expertise across the sector.”
Housed at NUI Galway, the Construction Technology Centre is the result of a consortium including Trinity College Dublin, UCD, and University College Cork working with the Irish Green Building Council.
It will have a particular focus on advancing innovation and productivity in residential construction.
President of NUI Galway, Professor Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh, said that the centre will bring all of the university’s “talent, knowledge and expertise” to the fore in driving “sustainability, innovation and technology transformation” in construction.
The construction sector currently employs 159,300 people in Ireland, 6.4% of all people working in the Irish economy.
The sector represents 6.1% of GDP, along with 11.2% of Gross National Income (GNI).
Enterprise Ireland’s High-Tech Construction and Housing team works with a portfolio of 450 client companies that achieved exports of €2.89bn in 2021, up 24% on the previous year.
The project leads at NUI Galway, Prof. Jamie Goggins and Dr. Magdalena Hajdukiewicz explained, “Our consortium proposed a Centre that will deliver on its vision to make Ireland a global research and innovation leader for sustainable construction and built environment technology.”
“The Centre will bring together the whole value chain to accelerate people-centric innovation in construction and the built environment that allows industry increase their capacity and competitiveness, while creating a sustainable society and economy”.
