"Seeing is believing" - BAM Ireland lead the way in collaboration

BAM Ireland, one of the country’s largest construction businesses, is making a positive impact on local communities through its “Enhancing lives” programme.  The programme, which is part of BAM’s strategy for 2016 to 2020, aims to add real value to communities through partnership. 

This year has seen the company collaborate with Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT) on a number of important initiatives. 

BAM is active across the entire spectrum of construction activity in Ireland, including Building, Civil Engineering, Design and Build, Property, Rail, BIM, Facilities Management and M&E. Minimising harm to the environment and making a positive impact in the communities where they operate are core principles of BAM’s corporate strategy.

The “Enhancing lives” programme has been developed to deliver real change in the local community.  It is about adding value through activities that would not happen without BAMs support. It is also about empowering people through grass roots organisations, as well as those with a wide reach. The programme largely focuses around employment, training, education, community and charity engagement.   

As part of this programme, BAM Ireland have taken part in a knowledge sharing and research collaboration with GMIT over the past three years.  The two partners have recently collaborated for the STEM ‘Seeing is believing’ event, which was held on the BAM Acute Adults Mental Health Unit (AAMHU) site in Galway with attendees comprising secondary school construction studies teachers from the Galway and Clare areas.

Feedback from the event was extremely positive, with teachers welcoming the opportunity to engage with the practical applications of construction. This has helped to bring a new dimension to the classroom for the teachers and their students. The event was a very positive one for BAM too, as BAM Ireland Chief Executive Theo Cullinane observes, “Collaboration between industry and education is essential for securing a future skilled talent pool for the Irish construction industry and we are leading the way in this regard’.

Following on from this event, BAM and GMIT held a workshop for 3rd year construction management students who are undertaking their industrial work placements in early 2017.  Held at GMIT’s Dublin Road campus, the workshop provided students with an in depth knowledge of behavioural safety. Following the workshop, the students were awarded with the BAM ‘Beyond Zero’ behavioural safety award.  Beyond Zero is an initiative implemented by BAM with the aim of fostering a culture of responsible behaviour rather than forcing people made to work safely. The Beyond Zero programme creates a synergy with BAM’s ‘Making BAM a Safer Place’ campaign with its core pillars of Respect, Intervene and Comply. Thanks to a dedicated team of Beyond Zero trainers, over 2,500 staff, including subcontractors have now attended the Beyond Zero workshops.

BAM has also had significant recognition for its work in the global community recently. This year the company was once again named on the Climate Disclosure Project (CDP) A list, placing them in the top 9 per cent of companies in the world in combating climate change. BAM’s dedication to sustainability was acknowledged at this year’s Green Awards where it won the Green Construction Category. It was also awarded the overall “Engineering Project of the Year” for the Corrib onshore gas pipeline from Engineers Ireland.

BAM IRELAND PRESS RELEASE: 20.12.16

Banner Photo:
Students from the GMIT B.Eng Construction Management (L7) course displaying their BAM Ireland Beyond Zero safety certificates, pictured with BAM representative Jan Gottsche (3rd from left, back row) and Brian Holmes (back row, blue shirt). [Photo Dr Mark Kelly, GMIT]

Photo 2
Members of the BAM team at the Acute Adult Mental Health Unit site, Galway University Hospital (GUH) with secondary school teachers from Galway and Clare and representatives from Business in the Community (BITC).