Irish arm of consulting firm granted €30m in contracts this year

RPS Group's Irish business provides consulting and engineering services to a number of State bodies, including Transport Infrastructure Ireland and Iarnród Éireann

Willie Madden, managing director of RPS Group.

The Irish arm of engineering consulting and project management firm RPS Group has secured over €30m worth of new design contracts for projects both in Ireland and the UK so far this year, the company has announced.

Among the contracts is work on the Metrolink, the new Eastern Garvoge Bridge in Sligo, as well as a scheme on the A66 Trans-Pennine roads project in the North of England. A representative of the company said it could not provide an exhaustive list of all the contracts it had been awarded this year.

RPS established its presence in Ireland in 2002 after it took over Cork engineering company MCOS. Alongside its offices in Cork, MCOS had offices in Dublin and Galway before being bought out.

RPS Group has 470 staff working in the Republic of Ireland, with an additional 295 in Northern Ireland.

RPS Group was itself recently bought by Tetra Tech, an international consulting and engineering services company which employs 27,000.

RPS’s Irish business provides consulting and engineering services for a wide range of areas including infrastructure design and development, energy, water and environmental services and project and programme management.

The company has been involved with a number of State bodies and companies, such as Uisce Éireann, Transport Infrastructure Ireland and Iarnród Éireann.

Regional base

RPS added it was opening a new regional base in Kilkenny to add to its existing office locations in Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin, Cork, Galway and Sligo.

Willie Madden, managing director of RPS, said the company had built a large client base in Ireland and the UK.

“Our track record in project delivery and the commitment and excellence of our staff,” he said.

Mr Madden said the Kilkenny office serves as a hub for staff living in the area and otherwise commuting to Dublin and Cork several days a week.

“We have always encouraged the flexibility to move if your circumstances change, and setting up a nationwide hub network of smaller and more agile offices is our way of being responsive and meeting the real needs of our employees," Mr Madden said, adding it was something that would help the company attract new recruits.  

Mr Madden is one of three members of the current management board who came through the company’s graduate programme.

RPS Group employs 5,000 employees across Ireland, the UK, Europe, Asia, and North America. Earlier this year it was acquired by Tetra Tech in a deal worth a reported £636m (€731m).