Tom McDermott

With ambitions to unite our people and grow our Irish business, Tom McDermott’s passion for people drives him to deliver for his clients and his colleagues every day. Joining Mace in 2011, Tom’s work focuses on pursuing a sustainable future for Ireland and developing Mace’s Irish capabilities to deliver groundbreaking work for this key region.

How did you get into what you do?

Growing up, my dad worked with the Local Authority on the roads. I was so proud of him and knew one day I wanted to work as an engineer. I completed my bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and then worked my way up to senior resident engineer for the delivery of Terminal Two at Dublin Airport.

The company I worked for at the time was in a joint venture with Mace, and I gained confidence from the relationships I was able build while working on the project. This encouraged me to make the move to Mace in 2011, where I joined in the delivery of another flagship project, Birmingham New Street refurbishment.

My Dad always encouraged me to work hard and work well with other people. This is really important to me and, from my early encounters, I could tell that it was a huge focus within Mace. In fact, it is a big part of the culture here and one of the things I value most.    

What do you enjoy most about your current role at Mace?

Mace’s Irish business is going from strength to strength. We’ve built a team of people who have a diverse range of experience and can bring a variety of qualities. When I first joined Mace Ireland in 2017, I think we had fewer than ten people and now we’re touching on 100. The way the team has exploded is really exciting to see and I love being a part of the team responsible for driving the expansion.

How do you redefine the boundaries of ambition?

By growing together. For me it always comes back to that. I’m really passionate about it and, again, I’m thankful that it’s such a strategic priority here at Mace.

I’ve personally recruited a lot of people into the business as we’ve grown the Irish team. How we recruit our people is massively important because people are at the heart of everything we do. We’ve been very successful in who we’ve recruited in Ireland and when I look around at our teams, seeing colleagues who are performing well and who have been with us for a number of years, I’m heartened to think I’ve played a part in building that legacy.

Without our people and clients, we would not be the business we are today. In Ireland we focus extremely hard on delivering service excellence and always look to improve on this. We don’t stand still and continuously strive for quality.

What has been your proudest achievement at Mace so far?

I’ve had many proud moments while working for Mace. From delivering one of the most iconic rail projects in the UK at Birmingham New Street, to working on one of the biggest infrastructure programmes in Europe, at Hinkley Point C, these major schemes both defined my career. Even so, I’ll always come back to what we’re achieving now in Ireland.   

A real highlight was when we secured the Uisce Eireann Irish Water framework for another seven years. I was fortunate enough to lead a brilliant team in securing this framework and I’m thrilled to be delivering world class project management to a hugely important client to us in Ireland.

Why Mace?

From the get-go, I knew that Mace would be the place to help me develop my career. It’s a personable, diverse, forward thinking, client focused and innovative business that has endless opportunities. When I tell people I work for Mace, they stand up and listen.

What are you passionate about outside of work?

I love playing golf on my local course, ConcraWood. I’m trying to improve my handicap, but I am also the club juvenile convenor – assisting with non-coaching aspects of support, development and competitions. I love seeing new kids joining our club and introducing them to golf, encouraging both girls and boys to pursue it as a hobby (or more if they’re good enough!).

I grew up playing Gaelic football, so I also train our local under 14 girls football team. They’re a fantastic bunch of girls all looking to develop their skills – it’s hugely important for their life-long social development.