Local Suppliers Urged To Attend 'Meet The Buyer' Event

The National Development Finance Agency (NDFA) and Grangegorman Development Agency (GDA) in partnership with Enterprise Ireland are running an information and networking event connecting local suppliers to opportunities in the construction sector as part of the €200m Central and East Quads development project in Grangegorman, Dublin 7.

The Meet the Buyer event takes place on Wednesday 13 August 2014 in the CityWest Hotel, Saggart, Co. Dublin, at 9.15am. The free event is open to construction suppliers and enterprises in a wide variety of supply categories from aggregates to windows. Attendees willlearn more about the DIT Grangegorman campus development project and have an opportunity to meet with the three shortlisted building candidates. Attendees will also find out how to become a sub supplier through a series of short 5 minute “pitch” meetings.

The three Public Private Partnership (PPP) consortia that have been shortlisted to progress to the next stage of the delivery of the Central and East Quads at DIT's new education campus are BAM PPP; Eurigena Group and Kajima Infrared. BAM PPP includes Ireland based BAM Building Ltd and BAM FM Ireland Ltd. Eurigena Group includes Spanish contractor FCC Construcción SA and Dublin based John Sisk & Son along with facility management service providers Mitie and Noonan Services. Kajima Infrared consists of UK based Brookfield Multiplex Construction Europe and HSG Zander Ireland Facilities Services.

There will also be an Enterprise Support zone at the event, where attendees can get information on business supports through the Local Enterprise Office network and Enterprise Ireland. The Department of Social Protection will provide delegates with information on the Pathways to Work initiative (including the Jobs Ireland Services) and check eligibility for the JobsPlus scheme. The zone will also include financing information from Microfinance and crowd fund LinkedFinance as well as an insurance, bond & credit rating advisory service through Finance One. Delegates will be able to meet with advisers on cross border trade opportunities, public sector tendering and consortia building through InterTrade Ireland and Dublin based consultancy company, Tender Team.

This phase of DIT's new campus at Grangegorman will accommodate approximately 11,000 students and staff when completed and occupied in September 2017. Construction has already commenced on site with work scheduled to begin on the Central and East quads development in 2015. The Central Quad will cater for Tourism, Food, Science, Health and Engineering students, as well as some Built Environment students, whilst the East Quad will cater for Applied Arts, Social Sciences, Law, Media and Languages. These buildings will effectively replace the existing facilities at Kevin Street, Cathal Brugha Street, and several other smaller facilities.

The NDFA is responsible for delivering €650m of Public Private Partnership projects as part of the €2.5b Infrastructure Stimulus Programme announced by the Irish Government in July 2012. Through the Grangegorman re-development project, the Government is investing approximately €300 million into the Irish economy over this period up to September 2017. There will be further investment when further areas of the campus development come to market. The next DIT phase will include the West Quad (Business) and the new library. Other projects coming online within the re-development are the HSE primary care centre, the new Dublin 7 Educate Together primary school and the Community Nursing unit.

(CD)