Page 13 - Sisk News August 2017

A focus on Life Sciences
Leading the team in Europe, Mark Brophy, General Manager, said “Procuring works, under a management contract, provides dual bene ts for both ourselves and our clients, as this offers the lowest risk to Sisk and allows us to bring our specialised Life Sciences construction knowledge and exemplar work practices around areas such as Health and Safety, Schedule and Quality to the projects. This is in stark contrast to the market players whose skills lie predominantly within the design phase.
“The development of new drugs from R&D concept to patient takes many years and stages of trials, production and regulatory approval. The demands for new treatments requires that procurement and construction and commissioning are completed awlessly and in the shortest possible timeframe. Our experience in this eld has seen us work with clients as they seek partnerships that will deliver this certainty across Europe.
“That said, as our pro le and client base grows across the Benelux, Switzerland and European regions, we will look to expand into work package contracting and engineering, procurement and commissioning and validation where we will partner with design companies or take the roles on ourselves.”
The enrichment of expansion is not only being felt by the business - our employees are revelling in their new way of life. Dave Prendergast, Contracts Manager, has worked in Nigeria, Ireland and the UK for Sisk. He said: “I have eventually ended up in the Benelux area, The Netherlands and Belgium, where I have settled in and am
enjoying the experience.
“The best projects to date have been here in terms of work satisfaction and professional achievement. I
love cycling and particularly enjoy
quality routes which
are well maintained
and available for all - of course it helps there are no hills and the weather is better than in Ireland!”
Sisk News | August 2017 13
Further insight was provided by Louise O’Neil, who worked as Project Manager in Switzerland. Here, she e“xplains her experiences.
As the Swiss are quite regimental about working hours and striking the right work-life balance, working late or working on Saturdays was non-negotiable. So, with two non-work days on my agenda in the week and very few people in my locality with which to converse (very few spoke English), I struck out to explore.
I had the opportunity to visit Zurich, Lucerne and Berne. All three are large cities but, like most European cities which have mainly historical centres, each one is unique and offers new opportunities that cannot be experienced elsewhere.
Whether it was standing in the centre of the bear pit in Berne, where the original bears were kept after being taken as the spoils of war in the 16th century, walking along the lakeside in Zurich on a sunny Sunday afternoon among all of the promenading families (there’s nothing else to do as everything is closed on Sunday), or admiring the remaining original paintings in Kapellbrücke, Lucerne that were not destroyed in the re of 1993, each new sight made me realise how important it was to get out and experience the country in which I
was working and
understand its unique
aspects.
One of those was also the cheese fondue, which is the local speciality. After a number of months in Switzerland I gladly returned home, but I feel I have acquired a better knowledge about the country and culture and also about the challenges of working in a foreign country with
a different language and customs.
During 2016, The Taoiseach Enda Kenny TD visited Sisk at the existing Janssen Biologics (a Johnson
& Johnson subsidiary) facility
in Leiden. This will operate as a Vaccine Manufacturing launch facility facilitating Phase lll clinical trials.
Julie Sinnamon, CEO, Enterprise Ireland said: “It is a testament to the excellent reputation of John Sisk & Son that they were invited, based on their experience with J
& J Projects in Ireland, to construct this high tech Janssen facility in the Netherlands.
“
Dave exploring on two wheels
Schloss Laufen overlooking the Rheinfall