Meet the Team

Aidan’s father was a building/plastering contractor and brought him into the construction sector at the young age of 12. He must have taken a shine to it as he is still in it and is now a Director of McKeon Group. He is excited to work on this project and said, “it looks amazing and the whole sustainable and digital aspect is so important for now and the future.”

Aidan hales from the Royal County Meath and enjoys watching the kids play football and running when he can. His favourite sport is GAA, and is very proud of the Meath ladies recent win.

Alan has been involved in construction throughout his career, one of the first roles he held was as a Building Services Engineer working for a Mechanical and Electrical consulting engineering firm. Prior to working for DCU he spent the majority of his career working for consulting engineers. When asked what excites or interests him about this project he responded “I'm interested in the blend of practices, trades and disciplines required to construct our new building. I'm really excited by the design work that has gone into this project to make this an energy efficient and iconic looking building.

I love the diverse nature of the intended building use and the various areas of teaching and research the building will address, including Science, Sports Science, Technology and Engineering. I enjoy the challenge of constructing this building on our live campus in such a prominent space while we maintain business as usual.” Alan enjoys staying active, mostly swimming and running, has taken part in some triathlons in the past. An interesting fact about Alan is most of his qualifications are in the fields of engineering and project management, but he also has a diploma in Music.

Joe has over 30 years of experience with Walls joining the company in the late 1980s. During his career, he has completed several prestigious construction projects, being responsible for managing all on-site activities and ensuring that health and safety, quality and production standards are met. Joe followed an older brother’s footsteps into construction and would advise someone starting and looking to progress into site management to get into the business early, perhaps through an apprenticeship, learn as much as possible and work your way up. This advice has stood Joe in good stead, as has his keen eye for detail, overall construction knowledge and strong organisation and communication skills, helping to ensure that project objectives are achieved.

A proud native of Rhode, Co. Offaly, Noel recently joined Walls, having spent most of his career in construction, starting as a Site Engineer and working up to the position of Contracts Manager. Noel’s most recent experience was as the Construction Director on a major Irish public healthcare project in a campus environment. Established as a joint venture contract, the project included several hospital wards, specialist health units, a primary healthcare and therapy centre and an administrative complex. Noel loves construction, especially the fact that it provides new challenges and experiences daily, and he is particularly excited about the high-specification mechanical and electrical design of the DCU Future tech building.

Alex wanted to be an architect from an early age. Pursuing two of the required architectural degrees at university and moving into practice, the reality of the profession proved to be everything he had hoped. The mix of working from the studio, visiting sites and clients provides variety to his working week. The most rewarding aspect is working with end-user clients to deliver their vision for new buildings that will transform their research and teaching. Very rarely do we get the opportunity to work on such high-profile sites as this gateway to DCU’s campus. Our design proposal signals the aspiration of the university and its commitment to high-quality teaching and research as well as its outstanding sustainability principles. It’s always great to work on projects with such engaged clients and end users who co-design the resulting building with us. Alex is from Leeds, UK. He practices architecture at Sheppard Robson’s Manchester studio on projects spanning the length of the UK, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and occasionally beyond. Alex’s passion for architecture translates into a lot of DIY projects. He is also a keen runner and a member of a local running club.

Gareth has nearly 30 years of experience with Walls Construction, where he commenced his career as a Site Engineer and is now an Operations Director. Gareth’s organised, professional, and customer-focused approach to projects varies from contracts in the industrial, pharmaceutical, and distribution sectors, as well as working on projects such as Dub10 (60MW) Data Centre campus, the Trinity Biosciences Building on Pearse Street, the LinkedIn EMEA HQ, and the Dublin Landings development on North Wall Quay. Gareth is an avid scuba diver who dives all around the coast of Ireland and abroad. When not providing a taxi service for his 3 children to hockey, soccer, swimming, or general socialising activities, he can be found watching or attending Leinster or Ireland rugby matches.

Niall started his construction career as a mechanical design engineer. Over the years, he has had a few different roles; however, it wasn't long before he realized that he preferred to be part of the delivery team and see projects come to life. When asked, "What excites or interests you about this project?" he said, "The scale and the use of the building. It's one of the most significant projects I have worked on to date, and the fact it will facilitate students from various disciplines ranging from mechanical engineers building robots to monitoring high-performance athletes, all under one roof, is exciting." Niall is from Saval, just outside Newry, where he enjoys hitting the gym and is a self-confessed petrolhead who loves watching a bit of Formula 1.