Making The Difference (The Following is a Promoted Article) “Ballymore is different,” says Chairman and Group Chief Executive Sean Mulryan. Driven by creative ingenuity, a passion for improving the lives of those people its work ultimately serves, and an ingrained desire to get the best out of its workforce, Ballymore sets the bar high. What is astonishing is that it keeps surpassing its own ambitious goals. This has seen the business grow substantially from its origins in Ireland into one of London’s top developers. Indeed, the company has become synonymous with regeneration across the entire city. Its history dates back to its founder’s twenties and Mulryan’s time as a bricklayer and stonemason. He established Ballymore as a source for accomplished bricklayers to serve the needs of local contractors before moving into development work in and around Dublin. Many noted his attention to detail; a work ethic that brought the best out of those that worked with him, and as a result delivered optimum standards. These principles remain the cornerstone of the business today. Growth was unsurprisingly rapid and by 1992 Ballymore was one of Ireland’s largest homebuilders. A reputation for quality, creativity and value for money drove the sort of word of mouth any company director craves for, and the business flourished. However, Mulryan’s ambitions demanded he took Ballymore further afield, finding and successfully undertaking opportunities in London. Now an established developer in the city, the company has extended its reach, quickly showcasing its exacting standards and strict quality control in Europe. Proudly, for example, a development in Bratislava won two major European Awards for Best Building and Best Retail Development, highlighting not only the company’s ability to take its expertise to the international market but showing its depth of knowledge in building mixed use developments that combine office, retail, hotel and leisure facilities. “We’ve always taken a different approach,” notes Mulryan. “The difference is in the detail. We put an enormous amount of thought into every development, as if we were going to live or work there ourselves. A lot of time is spent discussing how and where people are going to live in the future. I like to think that the imaginative work we do in our developments and their surroundings will play a big part in improving the quality of life of our customers. “If we can achieve that, as well as creating great buildings that truly grace the landscape, then we will have succeeded in realising the vision I had for this company some thirty years ago.” Mulryan, as CEO, now oversees a business that has an accomplished track record as an international investment and development company. With a focus on large-scale projects in London and across Europe, Ballymore is recognised as a leader in urban regeneration and distinguishes itself over competitors through a capability to take on a scheme from initial conception through to final realisation with full management control along the way. It is the company’s hands-on approach and skill to tackle every element of a project that enables it to deliver the standards it strives for. Unquestionably, the painstaking attention to detail witnessed in Sean Mulryan’s work from the outset is still seen today; the only change being Ballymore’s scale. This combination of workmanship, management and expertise across all aspects of a development not only delivers customer satisfaction but has caught the attention of many awarding bodies within the sector. One of its most recent accomplishment was the successful delivery of Embassy Gardens Phase One in London, a 2.6m square foot mixed use development that includes apartments, office space, housing, and flexible retail and leisure space. For this, the Considerate Constructors Scheme (CCS) rewarded Ballymore with a Bronze in its 2015 National Site Awards. Indeed, if Ballymore sets out to improve the life of its customers on delivery of a project, the CCS award highlights how that ethos begins at conception. Fergus Boyle, Projects Director, believes there were several reasons why Ballymore achieved the CCS award. “We were very considerate of the local environment and the people in that area,” he says. “As we were working on public roadways we kept everything neat and tidy and continually kept our carbon footprint as low as possible through the project. This meant managing our traffic movement effectively, keeping as much traffic as possible on back roads so it would not block up public roads. In terms of deliveries on site and the public traffic around the area, we separated our walkways from the public so we would not be interfering with people’s daily movements.” The Scheme looks at all aspects of construction activity that may directly or indirectly impact on the image of the industry as a whole. This involves focusing on three key areas: the general public, the workforce and the environment. Boyle says that these areas are given equal footing on every project Ballymore undertakes. “It is very important to have a considerate site especially for the surrounding public as we are effectively disrupting their lives. Therefore, we must be as considerate as we possibly can in all aspects of the project. The main things that we carry out when setting up our site is to keep it away from the general public so that it does not affect them. Also, all of our deliveries go on back roads rather than the main public routes.” This extends to the safety of the workforce on site including, importantly, subcontractors. “Before anyone is able to come on site we insist that they take an online site induction – this includes all of our subcontractors and suppliers. The induction can be done in 12 different languages and we make sure that these inductions are done ahead of time rather than when someone comes to the site for the first time and having to go through it then. “In the mornings, anyone that is coming to the site for the first time after completing the induction, would have to do a further half an hour tour