Industry & Business

Hays Ireland, a leading construction recruitment firm has reveled that the demand for professionals in the construction and property sector has surged 40% in July, compared to this time last year.

The recruitment agency also reveled that Architects were the most sought after up 60% but there was also strong demand for contract managers, quantity surveyors and engineers.

The sector also experienced a 35% month-on-month increase in the number of applications from Irish construction and property workers currently based in the UK.

The Construction Industry Federation has said that foreign direct investment is leading the boost in building activity.

CIF Director-General Tom Parlon told Newstalk Breakfast that its looking good for the sector:

“With the continued economic growth, with the new housing strategy that’s been announced, and the very, very substantial foreign direct investment here – there are 18 companies either currently building or planning to build data centres in Ireland at the moment, so there’s a lot of activity going on.”

Parlon also indicated that Ireland will need 80,000 to 100,000 additional jobs in construction over the next five year.

He said short-term challenges included a lack of supply of workers after Ireland had lost 180,000 people out of the industry in recent years.