“Ireland is a great place to live and construction is a great career, this makes our recruitment message, as a purpose-driven and progressive contractor, particularly compelling right now”
Leading Irish building contractor flies the flag for Irish construction at St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in South Africa to attract senior construction professionals to help deliver on Ireland’s housing targets
Later this month a delegation from JJ Rhatigan & Company will embark on a six-day recruitment initiative in Cape Town, South Africa, focused on promoting opportunities for senior construction professionals in Ireland.
A steadfast presence in the construction sector over the past seven decades, JJ Rhatigan & Company, or JJR, has experienced a decade of steady growth and the team is currently working on 24 projects across Ireland and the UK with an aggregate value nearing €1.4 billion. The company’s impressive delivery over the past decade includes the delivery of more than 5,400 residential units in both Ireland and the UK, 17,000 school places, 20 healthcare facilities, 145,000m2 of office and commercial space, 2,500 student accommodation bedrooms, 1,400 hotel bedrooms, and 14 third-level campus facilities.
This trip is the company’s second construction recruitment initiative in South Africa, having successfully engaged with a previous government trade mission in 2023. On foot of connections interviews conducted and introductions made on that trip, over 10 senior construction professionals from South Africa relocated, together with their families, to Ireland to join the growing JJ Rhatigan team in both an operation and commercial capacity.
Speaking about the success of this initiative, Chief Executive Officer, Ger Ronayne, said:
“We are committed to building a better future through our projects and we have been delighted to welcome 11 new colleagues from South Africa to the JJR team in recent months. Each brings more than a decade of post-graduate industry experience, which is helping to deliver on our billion euro worth of projects on the ground. It is heartening to see how well our new teammates are settling into life in Ireland, together with their families. Ireland is a great place to live and construction is a great career, this makes our recruitment message, as a purpose-driven and progressive contractor, particularly compelling right now.”
JJ Rhatigan & Company has strengthened its senior management team in recent years, demonstrating a strong commitment to diversity with 33 percent female representation. The company is also leading industry adoption of offsite and other modern methods of construction (MMC) to ensure accelerated programme delivery with the guarantee of consistently high-quality, sustainable outputs.
Looking ahead, Ger Ronayne, outlines:
“This marks our second venture to South Africa, with the aim of surpassing the success achieved during our inaugural trip last June. Our objective is to conduct second-round interviews with seasoned operations and commercial professionals from the country’s leading contractors. We are on track to double the number of contracts offered compared to our previous visit, which will increase our operational capacity further and allow us to deliver projects at greater scale”
During this upcoming visit, the JJ Rhatigan team will also have the honour of meeting with Darragh O’Brien, Ireland’s Minister for Housing, at the Irish Ambassador’s St. Patrick’s Day celebrations.
