As a company AECOM is committed to helping the island of Ireland develop the foundations of future growth that will build an infrastructure legacy for the future.
As the island looks to develop its regions to facilitate population growth and spread the economic growth outside of the major city centres of Dublin and Belfast, we need to consider how to build self-sustaining regional hubs and consider what all their infrastructure requirements are, be that property, water, power, road, rail and – increasingly – broadband connectivity.
Following on from last year's ‘Taking the Long View’ of the construction industry, we have published our 2020 Ireland Review, which furthers the conversation on developing infrastructure to suit these future needs. The review was launched to key industry professionals at events in both Dublin and Belfast.
Several industry leaders collaborated with AECOM to producing a series of thought-provoking and informative articles for the publication:
As part of the review, we also surveyed 250 construction professionals across the island of Ireland, along with 58 companies in the US, to gauge industry sentiment on key themes. The results reveal how climate implications and social value are making a greater impact on how businesses plan longer term, along with the rising acknowledgement of how vital good infrastructure is to economic and societal prosperity.
Headline findings from across the island include:
- 46 per cent of businesses think that the concept of social value is very important
- 45 per cent of construction professionals feel that lack of government planning is the main challenge facing companies trying to deliver large scale projects
- 33 per cent of construction professionals do not think that there is currently enough infrastructure in place to meet economic growth.
Finally, in our industry spotlight, the review takes stock of both Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland’s economic and construction performance in 2019 and what we can expect to see in 2020 and beyond.
