O’Hare & McGovern manager scoops Irish CMYA

Nick Oldfield FCIOB, left, pictured with colleague Sean O’Hare, receives his award for the redevelopment of Belfast’s National Stadium

Nick Oldfield FCIOB from O’Hare & McGovern was named as Ireland’s Construction Manager of the Year (CMYA) 2017 at the awards reception in Dublin this summer.

Oldfield, who is a contracts manager for the County Down-based firm, was awarded the top prize for his work on the £35m redevelopment of the National Stadium at Windsor Park, Belfast.

The winning project involved the redevelopment of Northern Ireland’s national football stadium, which succeeded in boosting its capacity from 12,000 to 18,000.

The company began work on the project in May 2014. Works involved the demolition of the south and east stands and erection of replacement structures as well as refurbishment and extension of the north stand.

Floodlighting was replaced and new changing, training, hospitality, media, office and storage facilities were built. The completed stadium opened last October for Northern Ireland’s FIFA World Cup qualifier against San Marino.

What made the project particularly challenging – and displayed Oldfield’s skill – was the fact that the stadium remained operational on match days throughout the works.

The project involved a pre-construction period of 10 weeks, a mobilisation period of two weeks and a construction period of 19 months, which included sequencing of work in order to make the facilities available for match fixtures.

Speaking about the winning entry and awards night, Ivan McCarthy FCIOB, trustee of the CIOB, said: “This year the judges whittled down the entries to 21 finalists in four categories. I have to admit, given the quality of construction management expertise that our finalists demonstrated, I didn’t envy the judges with the task of selecting the category medallists and the overall winner.

McCarthy continued: “Oldfield managed to deliver a world-class facility in what was a very technically challenging and complex project. This included the management of a very diverse supply chain, while also managing the many trials and constraints of the site location. His professional management and leadership ability was a key factor in meeting the varied client demands, managing cost control and keeping to programme.”

Unlike its UK counterpart, the Irish CMYA is only held once every two years. In the 2017 awards there were 21 finalists in four categories, with a Gold and Silver prize in each category and the overall winner chosen from the Gold recipients.

The other Gold winners recognised in this year’s awards were Cathal Moran from John Sisk & Son for the Liffey Valley Western End extension and Noel Cronin from Walls Construction for the refurbishment of the Dublin Airport Authority Technical Adminstration Services Centre, as well as Tony Maher of Stewart Construction for Block 3, Waterside, Citywest.