In this issue of Building and Construction Review we have selected DCON Safety Consultants Limited as the recipient of our New Year Spotlight Award.
After 5 years in business, DCON Safety Consultants again came to forefront in successfully claiming another major industry award. The company returned to the winner’s podium recently by receiving the prestigious Guinness Excellence in Business Award for 2022 having already claimed the matching award for 2021. Founder and Managing Director, Diarmuid Condon instantly deflects praise to his Clients and industry partners.
If the current trend continues, then as one of Ireland’s foremost independently owned built environmental, safety, health and wellbeing consultant practices, DCON Safety Consultants may soon have to consider rearranging their Dublin city office space to make room for all the industry awards they are securing. The 2021 calendar year ended on a high note for the company as they were once more recognised at the prestigious Guinness Excellence in Business Awards – a feat which Diarmuid Condon modestly admits would not have been possible without the invaluable input of an extensive network of partners:
“We were surprise winners of this award last year and we welcomed winning it again this time around – it acknowledges our strong commitment to the services we provide,” Diarmuid notes. “We are humbled to have been chosen as the 2022 winners but the reality simply is that we wouldn’t have received this award without our Clients, their Design Teams & Project Managers, our Consultant Partners that we work closely with on a day to day basis prioritising health, safety and wellbeing. It’s imperative that we acknowledge all project parties, as it’s ultimately a collaborative effort.”
Diarmuid goes on to further remark “We can only use the tools that we are given; these are informed by our Clients’ commitment, behaviour and efforts. This single point of success enables us to be considered for any award, never mind win one. We advise and offer guidance on design, planning, procurement, construction and operational outcomes. Outcomes are only attained with buy-in from our Clients. This relationship and rapport extends to our delivery partners – i.e., Main Contractors – who also have to be highly commended. Our service pool is extensive and it is important to acknowledge everybody involved.
Their contribution and hard work allows us to continue with our principal service offering and to extend and expand upon it. Our Clients have been very much affected by the pandemic and have had to significantly alter their site practices and manage the challenges presented. This has impacted upon their resources and involves incurring additional costs but – even under these more demanding circumstances, with working conditions and site lay-outs significantly altered – they continue to deliver safety and to eliminate risk. These are the real winners of this award. We could not collect or promote this award without our Partners.”
Proven leaders in built environmental, health & safety and wellbeing consultancy matters – consulting on various aspects of project design, constructability and operational lifecycle matters for local and global multisector clients, DCON Safety Consultants prioritise and specialise in the highest levels of informed and intelligent advice, senior project resource allocation and compliance assurance. Acutely cognisant of the fact that every project with potential benefits also has potential risks – and with the art of planning centring on the coordination of these two zones of uncertainty – their team of highly-experienced construction professionals consistently prioritises and safeguards each client’s best interest and statutory conformity.
The skills, knowledge and experience of DCON’s staff places them at the forefront of their profession; their unique approach to the services provided is focused heavily on assisting Clients demonstrate confidence in their levels of compliance whilst also exploring how they might improve their safety performance.
With the safety and wellbeing of their own people, their clients’ staff and those around them is at the heart of the business, DCON Safety Consultants are passionate and highly committed to continually improving health, safety and wellbeing management in collaboration with Clients. They have accumulated extensive experience in the provision of specific health and safety advisory services on large, complex projects and public and private developments.
DCON Safety Consultants serve a wide and varied selection of customers including Public Sector Departments, Corporate Owners, Real Estate Developers, Main Contractors, Design Professionals and Infrastructural Bodies. No project is considered too simple or complex for their team of high-quality specialist consultants – construction professionals averaging 20+ years’ experience working in the built environment.
While collecting awards obviously should not rank high on any practice’s list of priorities, it is nevertheless true that it provides businesses with some additional positive press, which is always welcome. Indeed, when DCON Safety Consultants struck gold at the most-recent staging of the Guinness Excellence in Business Awards, Diarmuid noticed that his LinkedIn profile attracted no fewer than 26,250 views inside a week!
“It’s recognition of what you do and how well you are doing it, and it’s also free marketing, but at the same time there is also a consequence to winning an award in that you must maintain your high standards thereafter and be even better going forward,” the personable Cavan resident concedes. “While you can draw a line in the sand each time you win an award, you have been placed on a pedestal from which you can be knocked down – and I don’t particularly want to be knocked down from it. I prefer to move upwards. Our modus operandi is to excel at what we are good at and to never over promise and fail.”
Diarmuid also had the honour of sponsoring and presenting a major industry award on the night of Wednesday, November 24th 2021 when Ardmac were the winners of the DCON Safety Consultants-sponsored ‘Excellence in Safety Award’ at the annual Fit Out Awards 2021 ceremony at the Clayton Hotel. “After the year-and-a-half we’d all had, it was nice to have a reason to get dressed up and attend the function, which was very well organised in terms of prioritising public health,” he reflects. “These events are easy wins. It creates visibility and awareness for those we haven’t worked with and for whom we could be a good fit to promote and provide safety advice.”
Principal services provided by DCON Safety Consultants includes that of a Project Supervisor for the Design Process (CDM Advisor Plus), Pre-Planning Compliance, Safe Design Adherence, Health & Safety Strategy Creation, Client Advisory Roles, Physical Site Safety Auditing and Expert Witness. Through these services, they support and influence the design of proven health, safety and wellbeing strategies that seek to help clients achieve high-quality, cost-effective work for the safe design, construction and operation of their assets.
“While we spend a lot of time being good at what we specialise in, the reality is that we simply couldn’t do it without our Clients, Design Team Partners and Project Management relationships,” Diarmuid reiterates. “We strongly acknowledge their support and realise that we would not be where we are today without them. Winning the Excellence in Business Award 2021 and 2002 is a nice accomplishment but you cannot look at any award receipt in isolation. You need to examine how you got it and that’s generally through quality of service, which is made possible by the support of all those people and companies you are collaborating with.”
While Diarmuid’s track record in designing and executing strategic safety plans and systems for construction projects in Ireland and the UK is exceptional, his comprehensive background as a construction professional has been key to taking DCON Safety Consultants to where they are today. “We are construction-qualified specialists, and we are there when it is difficult, not just when it is easy,” he promises. “We understand both safety design and the mechanics of construction methodology. Our primary qualifications is in construction and that is hugely important.
“While we provide safety services, you also need to understand how things get constructed and deconstructed. There’s value in that and it is earned. We understand that value and we are always open to learning and strive to excel in new technologies, be that lean construction, alternative design lay-outs or BIM developments. On each project, you have to consider whether that technology suits the Irish market and the client. We’re fully committed to consistently learning and to acquiring the understanding which enables us to have that conversation at the right level with influencers and decision-makers across design teams.”
At any given time, the experts at DCON Safety Consultants are active on a variety of bespoke projects for a wide range of clients across the city centre and beyond. Some ongoing projects at the time of writing include the Cherrywood Town Centre Development, Camden Yard Development (former Kevin Street DIT campus), Project Calvary Dublin 3, 2 Grand Parade Dublin 6 and various regeneration masterplan projects.
With the Guinness Excellence in Business Award proudly on display – symbolising DCON Safety Consultant’s strong relations with their Clients, Design Team partners and Project Management teams – this progressive safety consultancy practice seeks to go into the new year with a decided spring in its collective step:
“It is deeply humbling but at the same time I wouldn’t have accepted the award if I felt we didn’t deserve it,” Diarmuid concludes. “This is a moment in time, and it doesn’t define us. It alludes to our performance within a particular timeframe, but we intend to continue delivering for our Clients and hopefully that may lead to us to be considered for other similar like awards in the near future.”
T +353 1 611 1556
diarmuid.condon@dconsafety.com
www.dconsafety.com