The construction industry continues to change at warp speed, and industry leaders are stepping up to facilitate the understanding and integration of new products and regulations in the industry. As one of Ireland’s top manufacturers of quality paving and walling, road surfacing materials, pre-mixed dry mortars, renders, screeds and, of course, ready-mixed concrete and blocks, Kilsaran sees education as a part of its responsibility within the Irish Construction Industry.
In October, Kilsaran took its popular learning series on the road, hosting one-day events at the Aviva Stadium and Fota Island in Cork. The response from the industry was hugely positive, says Keith Goodwin, Group Technical Manager at Kilsaran.
The learning series was a direct response to the industry, he explains. “With all the changes in building regulations specifically related to our industry, we decided to start offering these learning series. We offered a different topic every month and have done that for a couple of years.” Originally offering breakfast briefings at the company’s in-house training room in Dunboyne, the team recognised that they were missing out on a crucial catchment area. “We noted that we were only catching people who were within travelling distance of ourselves. There a lot of people working in the constructions sphere in the urban centres that don’t drive or it’s just not feasible to drop out for an hour. People had expressed enough interest in the programme that we brought our current six topics together and planned the event in the Aviva and the one in Cork to
respond for this need.”
The team put together a programme, covering six key areas: Aggregates, Ready Mix Concrete, Masonry Products, Renders & Mortars, Asphalt and SUD’s.
The daylong seminar was broken into three hour-long sessions in the morning, and three more in the afternoon. Each module was designed to bridge the knowledge gap between the interpretation of current industry standards and their implementation on projects, providing up to date information and an insight into future trends and benefit all construction professionals, says the Technical Manager. “The seminars examined the roles, responsibilities and perspectives of all parties as well as providing an overview of current industry standards, identifying and discussing common queries and issues, and offering practical tips for the correct adherence to current standards, codes of practice and the building regulations.”
With a department of twenty-five staff, dealing with queries from the industry on a day-to-day basis, the industry need for clarification on certain topics was clear to the team at Kilsaran, according to Goodwin. “Our team are handling the same kind of queries all the time. Where we felt that people didn’t perhaps understand something, we felt that there was an advantage to create some sort of training or seminar on whatever the topic might be to dispel some of the myths and make it easier for some people to understand. That genuinely has been the driver for us as a company in creating this series.”
Visit www.kilsaran.ie/learningseries for more details.