We are delighted to welcome John Ennis to our team as a strategic bid consultant, based in Ireland
John brings over 20 years’ experience in bid management and construction management in the Irish infrastructure market, supporting the delivery of our growing Irish pipeline.
From our base in Dublin, John will drive our operations in both Ireland and Northern Ireland alongside our Scotland and Ireland Operations Director Gordon Wilson, enabling us to directly engage with our existing clients and deliver our Irish growth strategy.
Bringing a breadth of experience to add value for our clients
Through John’s civil engineering qualifications, he has gained extensive experience across a multitude of sectors including utilities (water, wastewater, power and gas), construction, highways and renewables. John’s experience of managing the design, construction and bidding processes of large frameworks has provided him excellent understanding of the inputs and outputs required to excel at project delivery. Having managed some of the largest bids released by Irish Water, Electrical Supply Board, Gas Networks Ireland and Transport Infrastructure Ireland, John has working knowledge of the key stakeholder groups and their Tier 1 and 2 supply chains.
John’s key strengths, knowledge and notable career moments
John will bring the following strengths for the benefit of EiB and its clients:
- a working knowledge of the Irish procurement markets
- stakeholder management (inclusive of government agencies)
- planning process and statutory body requirements for project delivery
- value engineering and project risk identification
- project planning and programming
- engineering methodologies
- innovative construction techniques
- general principles of prevention in design.
John’s varied and expansive career will inform how we advise our clients in the Irish market. Notable career moments include pioneering the innovative trunk mains cleaning technique ‘Ice Pigging’ to Northumbrian Water; successful bid and project delivery of the SSE 33 66 kV Scottish Substation Framework; and successful award (2019) and subsequent reappointment (2023) to the Irish Water – Water Network Management Services and Works Framework.
Supporting our growing operations in Ireland
EiB is ideally placed to be part of the ever-growing procurement markets within Ireland. We will build on our vast experience delivering winning bids for our clients across the rail, highways, construction and utilities sectors in the UK and Ireland, working with John to expand our client base as we tap into Ireland’s potential.
John will support our Irish growth strategy by providing clients with a local resource pool, bringing detailed knowledge of each individual marketplace, project and end user. His construction background will provide additional benefits for our clients in his role as strategic bid consultant, with his ability to sense-check programmes, methodologies, resourcing plans and other related activities. He will apply his proactive stakeholder management skills to monitor procurement platforms and conferences in Ireland to ensure opportunities to collaborate with prospective clients are highlighted and secured early in the procurement process.
Ireland has many areas of growth and upcoming strategic bids for our clients, particularly in the future growth of renewable energy. According to IDA Ireland, the country’s inward investment agency, Ireland is already the highest ranked county in the world in the share of electricity demand fulfilled by onshore wind. It is also the second highest in Europe in wind and solar energy production per capita.
Building on this strong position, the Irish government has set out ambitious plans for greater reductions in the country’s use of fossil fuels and further development of its offshore wind capacity. Ireland plans to generate up to 80% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030, as specified by its Climate Action Plan 2023, updated in December last year. With 9 GW to come from onshore wind resources and at least 5 GW from offshore wind, the strategy also envisages some 8GW from solar power by the end of the decade. These plans aim to help the country meet targets to cut carbon emissions by 51% by the end of the decade and reach net zero carbon emissions no later than 2050, as set out in the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act, signed into law in July 2021. With John’s expertise and industry knowledge, EiB will provide expert support to clients in the Irish renewables markets as they respond to the pipeline.
Looking ahead: John’s vision for the future
John is looking forward to establishing and growing a successful EiB team in Ireland, as we have already done in Scotland, where we have grown our team to six people over the last three years. He will drive our Irish operations alongside Gordon as an integral member of our business development team. He will impart his engineering knowledge to the wider team to further enhance EiB’s capabilities.
John is looking forward to working in a consultancy environment across a range of sectors and clients. He is excited to grow his skills in the dynamic, fast-paced environment of EiB.