15 Feb “Spotlight” on Chris Dorrian
In light of the recent developments in the business structure, we found it fitting to sit down with Chris Dorrian for a candid conversation about his career journey and the factors that have propelled him to his current role as Country Lead, Ireland.
Tell us a bit about your career and what you’re bringing to your role:
Tough one to star with! I have been lucky enough to have a varied career not far from 25yrs long now! During which I have worked on, Residential new builds and development from affordable living to luxury homes, 5 stars Hotels, Large Casino`s & shopping Centres, Offices & of course Data Centres…. My first thought is experience & not just in one sector or from one element of construction. Although most of my career has been Sub-Contractor based, I also worked with 2 of the large GC (at the time) Mace and finally Multiplex in Sydney for circa 7yrs.
You have a highly pressurised career – what would you say are the key strengths you bring to a team?
Over the years I have had some successes and some failures too, the latter probably being the more important. It has helped me to develop a good understanding of what is critical, what to avoid, and help other team members with staying focused on the plan. Through experience you do become more appreciative of other companies/people’s roles in a project, which in turn helps the overall delivery.
What are the main challenges in the Mission Critical sector?
People, lack of people. And I do think this is partially a making of the DC sectors own doing. Yes, there are some rigorous processes involved with delivering a DC & experience is good. But other sectors have equally challenging aspects and skillsets or experience can be transferrable. The M&E principles are the same, it’s purely scale and approach, delivering a Hospital/Pharma/Super Prime Resi/Casino/Prisons all come with challenging process and an immense amount of pressure also.
What kind of skills does one need to have to enable a career in the Mission Critical?
Adaptability – Rarely the plan goes without a hiccup or Change, you need to be able to adapt. As mentioned above, working under pressure with tight deadlines and financial controls is key once you move into a leadership role, this takes time to learn.
Over the course of your career, what would you say was your most challenging project?
A super prime residential development working as sub-contractor. If I am being honest, I probably lacked experience in the role I was in, which was compounded by financial complications outside of the teams control and an extremely difficult project in terms of Change Control and leadership.
Is there any cutting-edge technology which you are excited about, which will be at the forefront of the industry in the next few years?
There is no single advancement or upcoming technology so to speak, but I am very interested to see how the industry is going to tackle the additional demands in terms of cooling and power, with AI & general demand rising. Immersion and other technologies are pushing hard to become the standard, its going to be interesting to see where the industry heads
Are there any skill/formulae/tech you learned in your formative years you still utilise today?
Communication is key, it is the most important thing.
As you are always heavily involved in the final push to complete a project, what are your coping mechanisms to deal with the pressurised environment you live in?
Try and always break it down into smaller components and close them out, soon the overall task gets smaller.
What is it that you enjoy about working with the MiCiM team?
Good people, but people who also know their jobs and responsibilities. It makes life a lot easier and enjoyable. With the company growing, there will be some very interesting projects on the horizon.
After a busy working week, what do you do in your down time?
I wish I had downtime…My eldest has just turned 3, and the youngest is 10 months old, so that’s a luxury which will be a few years away! I enjoy watching most sports and catching up with Friends when we can, and love a goodnight out.
