Clicking into collaboration with Center Parcs

‘From the very beginning of the Center Parcs project, there was a good fit,” says Gerard Fagan, Director and Assigned Certifier Team Lead with ORS.

“It was a collaboration between everyone to make it a success story,” Fagan adds.

“And what a success story it is,” as he rightly points out.

That’s true both for the UK based company, Co Longford and ORS, who provided multiple services on the €233m project. It has been a springboard in propelling ORS into becoming the largest provider of design and assigned certifier services in Ireland.

As Fagan points out, there was no shortage of people willing to bet against the first-of-its-kind resort in Ireland, but as the recent expansion news from Center Parcs has shown, the park has proved a success despite the pandemic.

This year Center Parcs Longford Forest announced they are applying for an €85m expansion, including 200 new lodges, adding to the 466 lodges and the 30 apartments on the site in Co. Longford.

ORS were the only Irish consultant on the Center Parcs project; their roles included planning, transportation, surveying, energy engineering, fire safety, disability access, design certifier, assigned certifier, health & safety and resident engineers. ORS were on board in an evolving capacity from well before the first sod was turned, right throughout construction and in the critical task of certification upon completion at the parks opening in August 2019.

“One of our biggest advantages, our unique selling point is our multidisciplinary approach. We have nine different pillars under one umbrella,” says Fagan.

And that range came into full use on a project with the scale of Center Parcs, which at one stage was one of the biggest residential projects in the entire country, pulling in over 750 construction workers.

“We had resident engineers on the ground. We provided surveying services outlining the routes and roads throughout the 400-acre site,” Fagan says. The surveying helped inform many of the decisions in making the park part of the woodland surroundings.

“They were very conscious of protecting as much as possible of the existing habitat,” Fagan said.

Another key aspect of the partnership between ORS and Center Parcs, especially one all visitors will notice, is signage.

“There’s signage leading to Center Parcs for up to 50km leading to the resort,” said Fagan. “We provided all of the signage and the network leading to the park.”

On the core services, ORS had teams of resident engineers on the infrastructure package as well as the commercial aspect, which centres around the village in the park.

Another critical service that ORS offered the teams of UK-based consultants working on Center Parcs in Ireland was first-hand knowledge of buildings regulations, certification and fire safety regulations in Ireland.

“Building regulations in Ireland are very different compared to the UK,” says Fagan. As he says, the introduction of BCAR Building Control Amendment Regulations in 2014 brought in a stronger commitment to accountability and responsibility and “at the top of that they put the assigned certifier.”

There was a strong emphasis on commitment and collaboration. ORS guided teams that were unfamiliar with Irish regulations around construction, health and safety, and fire.

But as Fagan points out, these challenges and their multidisciplinary approach have borne fruit as ORS is now working with a number of UK consultants and has recently opened their first UK office in Leeds as the demand for their services continues to grow.

ORS played a vital role in guiding compliance, constantly liaising with the local authorities and UK based design teams where several key variations between the two countries regulations exist. ORS was intrinsic in developing solutions in renewable energy compliance, fire safety design and most notably provided a novel solution around BCAR timelines that cut 11 months off the construction programme.

Core to the philosophy of getting things done at ORS is working together with contractors, says Fagan.

“We wouldn’t take the approach of them and us at all,” he says. “It’s very much one of working with contractors, trying to encourage and educate them as much as possible on how to achieve BCAR in the simplest possible way.” Fagan and his team run workshops before a project has even got underway.

“We show examples of previous non-compliance similar to the project at hand as well as items to watch out for,” says Fagan.

It’s a simple and effective approach, and it feeds back into overall efficiency.

“We aim for a collaborative approach, and clients and contractors appreciate it. Ultimately it leads to a happier and more efficient project,” added David McCormack, lead Director on the Center Parcs project on behalf of ORS.

“Who we are, our multidisciplinary services meant we could slot in and provide services to the client as the project progressed,” he says.

That meant coming in at the planning stage and assisting with building regulations and then moving on to attaining fire certificates.

“As the project bore on, they realised we could provide the bulk of the services needed. The relationship fell naturally into place,” says McCormack.

Having unparalleled local knowledge was undoubtedly another factor for Center Parcs choosing to partner with ORS.

“It was a great project, and it gave us great impetus as a firm,” Fagan says of their involvement in Center Parcs.

And above all, it proved that their focus on growing ORS into a multidisciplinary services firm was the right thing to do, and for the right reasons. That’s a stable and profitable foundation to build out from.