Clancy embeds sustainability and efficiency in its operations – Chris Chambers
Chris Chambers, Dublin Regional Director, Clancy Construction, speaks with Robbie Cousins about the company’s move towards greater efficiency and sustainability and suggests a discernible shift is evident in young people’s perceptions about the construction sector.
Clancy Construction has been experiencing a significant increase in the number and types of opportunities and types of projects in recent times. This could, in part, be attributed to its ongoing transition to more sustainable and efficient work practices. With 14 projects currently on site nationwide, its portfolio spans residential, commercial, healthcare, educational, and restoration works.
Chris Chambers on Clancy Construction
Clancy Construction director Chris Chambers and the rest of the contractor’s senior management team are very pleased with the direction the contractor has taken over the past four years. In this period, it has solidified its reputation for delivering fast-track MMC projects, enhanced its Lean construction capability, delivered several high-profile restoration projects and implemented a sustainability strategy to guide the decarbonisation of its operations.
Chris Chambers explains: “We’re very happy with how the business has progressed in recent years. Everything is coming together in line with our medium-term business strategy up to 2026. We now have three offices: our head office in Tipperary, a Dublin office and, more recently, an office in Cork. In total, we have 14 sites in operation at the moment beneath a line stretching from Dublin to Galway. These are a mix of commercial and residential contracts, with commercial covering healthcare, office work and education facilities. We also have some conservation work, which I am always pleased to see, as our conservation team has come into its own in recent times and has a lot to offer clients.”
He continues: “Healthcare has been a mainstay of the business for over 10 years. It was a key contributor to the business surviving the downturn. At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, we had reached a point where we were ideally placed to deliver safe, fast-track solutions. We won a contract to build two hospitals in Limerick for HSE – a single-story, 24-bed unit at University Hospital Limerick and a three-storey unit at Croom Hospital. Working under the then-new Covid-19 Standard Operating Procedure, we completed these projects in 14 and 17 weeks, respectively. We have since taken on a further eight fast-track hospital projects, and we are currently working on site at St Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin, in a live environment, where we are carrying out enabling works for the new National Maternity Hospital.”
Elsewhere in Dublin, Clancy is building 86 apartments over four blocks in Stillorgan for Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council. This project – ‘St Laurence’s Residential Community’ in Stillorgan – includes a new library facility.
“We also have residential developments in Cork, Limerick, Wexford and Kilkenny, as well as a complex restoration project in Laois for a confidential client.”
The Limerick healthcare project referenced above, along with many others, has been built using a light gauge steel framing (LGSF) 2D panelised system and other off-site elements.
Another LGSF project, the 554-bed Bandon Road Student Accommodation in Cork, saw individual five to six-storey apartment blocks constructed and weatherproofed in 18 weeks, with the internal finishing cycle taking just 16 weeks.
Clancy supply chain
Chris Chambers says that one of the critical factors in Clancy’s success is the professional relationships it fosters with its supply chain. “Our company ethos is to build in partnership, be that client, other build in partnership, be that client, other project stakeholders or subcontractors. We enjoy a good working relationship with our supply chain and subcontractors. We have used several off-site manufacturing companies for reinforcement steel, LGSF systems, 3D modular systems, bathroom pods, pre-packaged plant and many more elements, when they are a good fit for the particular project. We have been on a learning journey alongside many of these key suppliers. The LGSF system is ideally suited to live environments as it minimises disruption and deliveries and reduces the need for wet trades outside.”
Ei Built To Innovate Funding
In 2022, Clancy’s ability to innovate and deliver complex projects with minimal delay saw it selected for Enterprise Ireland Built to Innovate funding under the government’s Housing for All programme. This funding enabled it to advance lean expertise across its operations.
Clancy began piloting the Lean Last Planner system tool in 2017, which led to it standardising some of its systems, such as Two-Week and Pull Planning, and moving away from traditional Gantt charts.
Chris Chambers explains: “When we began introducing Lean practices into our operations in 2017, it had a real impact. We teamed up with Lean training consultancy Crystal Lean Solutions (CLS), and with them, we have taken it to the next level in recent years.
“In 2022, Enterprise Ireland was mandated to work with domestic contractors for the first time to help achieve greater efficiencies and drive Housing for All delivery. We were successful in our application for funding. Since then, working with CLS, we have rolled out White Belt, Yellow Belt and Green Belt Lean training for our team. At this point, we have 120 people who have completed Lean White Belt training, 80 have completed Yellow Belt training, and 30 have completed Green Belt training. We are now looking at Black Belt training options.”
Clancy conservation work
As Chris Chambers already pointed out, Clancy is very proud of its work in conservation and restoration. One notable project completed at the end of 2023 is The Rubrics building in Trinity College Dublin. Prior to that, Clancy had carried out extensive restoration works to St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin.
“The repurposing or refurbishment of older buildings has a lot to offer in terms of reducing construction’s carbon footprint. The Rubrics in Trinity College was built between 1699 and 1705. It is the oldest continually in-use residential building in Dublin and the oldest building on the TCD campus. Our work involved upgrading the building after stripping it out and retrofitting it to contemporary energy-efficient standards.
“This work included boring 21 150-metre deep geothermal holes in the centre of the campus to provide hot water and space heating to the building. We increased insulation levels significantly with glassrock insulation, a natural and sustainable material. We also applied an external lime render with insulation properties on the back elevation. This replaced a cementitious render that had been applied at some point over the years. Every element in the building was upgraded with sustainability in mind. The appearance of the building is also now more in keeping with the original type of external facade that was in place.”
Sustainability at Clancy
At the start of 2022, Clancy set about putting a formal sustainability strategy in place and appointed an internal sustainability subcommittee. This committee aligned Clancy’s sustainability strategy with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which they saw as a comprehensive framework to use in terms of getting a plan in place.
Chris Chambers points out that as a contractor, Clancy has always tried to do the right thing. “The sustainability strategy we put in place in 2022 has 11 of the UN SDGs that we see ourselves as being able to influence. We put these under three headings: ‘People’, ‘Planet’ and ‘Performance’. People covers issues such as health and wellbeing of staff, as well as training and development in terms of education and gender equality. Under Planet, we looked at affordable, clean energy and circularity in terms of trying to reuse or recycle where possible and reduce waste. With Performance, we looked at improving our performance as a sustainable business.”
He continues: “Businesses have to make money to be in business. From a sustainability point of view, it’s important that we build and maintain a business that will be here for generations to come. We have been putting the foundations in place that will ensure longevity in the business with several key metrics to measure this.”
Clancy set measurable targets under each of three headings and has reached a stage where it is now preparing data-rich reports.
“We have sustainability champions on each site who compile monthly reports on every project. They report back on key matrix such as energy usage and waste to landfill, etc.”
The strategy was launched in November 2022 and is well embedded at this stage. “We’ve made great strides with the strategy. We’re collecting a massive amount of data, which enables us to make good decisions, as data is critical to making good decisions. One example of this in action is how we have been using generators, which generally are hugely inefficient and heavy fuel users.
“We have a pilot project on our Stillorgan apartment development, whereby we’ve designed a system in collaboration with a storage battery manufacturer. We are powering the full site, which includes two tower cranes and a large welfare set-up, from one generator and a large storage battery. When the battery is powered up, the generator shuts off. Rather than having several generators running idly on site, we only run the generator when needed. The data collected indicates that we have reduced the carbon footprint of the project by approximately 80%.”
Chambers adds that using HVO instead of diesel for the generator could reduce the carbon footprint by over 90%. But, the use of HVO is prohibitively expensive.
“At the moment, HVO is twice the price of standard diesel. I would like to see more done by the government to reduce taxation on low-carbon fuels for construction sites.”
- ``I recently visited my old secondary school, where my former woodwork teacher, Mr Murphy, informed me that for the first year ever, more girls than boys are taking construction studies for the Leaving Cert in the school.``
Diversity & Inclusion
Opportunities for young people to develop an exciting and sustainable career in construction have never been better than at the present time. Chris Chambers believes that perceptions about construction work have changed dramatically in recent years.
“I think the opportunities in construction are vast at the moment. It’s a very exciting time to be involved in the sector. There are a lot of wins that will be achieved over the next few years.
“Gender diversity offers a huge opportunity for construction given the levels of requirement for housing and the expected population growth. I think encouraging women and girls into the industry is hugely important, and Clancy is doing everything we can to make the sector more attractive and accessible to women.
“As well as working with the CIF, we have our own schools outreach programme. We also have a placement programme to encourage younger people of all genders and persuasions into the industry. It’s crucial that we get as many people as we can in. Construction isn’t what it used to be. It is a far more innovative and forward-looking industry than in the past. It is a very exciting space to be in at this time.”
He adds: “I recently visited my old secondary school, where my former woodwork teacher, Mr Murphy, informed me that for the first year ever, more girls than boys are taking construction studies for the Leaving Cert in the school. I was delighted to hear this. I think it’s a great thing for the industry. Perceptions amongst young people about construction are changing. It is no longer being seen as a sector of bricklayers, plasters, roofers and wet trades. There’s an understanding that we are moving to a more innovative structure and framework in terms of delivery, and there’s an enormous digital and sustainable element to this.
“Clancy has gone through a large digital transition programme, and we have embedded sustainability in our operations. We’re now looking at AI and seeing how we might leverage this to the best of its ability. It’s an incredibly exciting time, and having this type of innovative thinking with sustainability behind it is a real enticer for young people to commit to the industry. Ultimately, I believe the next generation wants to make a difference and impact the environment and society. They can see construction has shifted towards being more sustainable and has a role to play in improving the planet for future generations. They can also see opportunities to innovate and contribute to this challenge. This is key to encouraging more people into the industry, and we need to remain focused on this for the coming years,” Chris Chambers concludes.