Cairn, Seven Mills Site
Cairn is harnessing innovative technologies to address two problems in construction: a shortfall of trained workers, and a housing development process that doesn’t use standardised designs.
Sharing MMC Ideas at one of Ireland’s Most Exciting Developments
The first Skillnet MMC Accelerate event of 2025 was hosted at one of Ireland’s most exciting developments – Seven Mills, the centre of the Clonburris Development Zone. Another high-profile line-up of speakers from across the construction sector provided a thought-provoking day of networking and presentations on all aspects of MMC.
Speakers included several representatives from Cairn as the developers behind Seven Mills: Ronan Lonergan, Design Lead for Preconstruction & Innovation; Jakub Urbanczyk, Digital Construction Manager; and Jamie Gallagher, Organisational Development & Engagement Manager. Damien Donegan, Managing Director at Extreme Balconies, and Gerard Clarke, Business Development Manager at FastHouse, also joined the line-up.
Dr. Alan Hore, Director of CitA, opened the event with an address on the importance of fast-tracking Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) through skills and talent development. These programmes use MMC to address issues in the building sector such as the workforce shortage, a technology gap, and limited training opportunities.
Lonergan discussed Cairn's journey to innovation, guiding attendees across nine years of iterating the technologies underpinning operations in Ireland’s largest developer. He also emphasised that Cairn’s progress comes from design standardisation and making this ‘library’ trackable and accessible to partners across their supply chain. Finally, he added that all Cairn projects now integrate features across the seven MMC categories.
Urbanczyk talked about the company’s ‘Digital Design Tool Kit’ in more detail.
In Cairn, we look at our houses through a number of lenses. The first lens we look through is components ... That’s all in our Component Library, the first element of our Digital Design Tool Kit. The next element is our Digital Housing Library, with a range of established units ... the final element is our Technical Design Library, with all drawings standardised. The Digital Design Tool Kit brings these elements together and equips them with high-level intelligence.
Digital Construction Manager, Cairn
Next, Donegan showcased the Modern Methods of Construction being used in modular balcony design. Using off-site manufacturing, Extreme Balconies is streamlining what is often one of the most complex architectural challenges on any build. He added, with this approach, the company is reducing installation times on projects by up to 70%.
In Clarke’s address, he covered how MMC timber frame design is transforming this traditional industry. He also discussed how building companies that are using these more sophisticated methodologies are fast becoming the ideal partners for developers such as Cairn in leading on projects across the country.
Finally, Gallagher talked about Cairn’s approach to addressing the shortfall of trained construction workers with better apprenticeship programmes. He said these improved training schemes are being tracked against broader industry figures, to showcase the benefits of investing in and supporting skills development from this early stage.
After the presentations, attendees were given the opportunity to visit the Seven Mills site. Once complete, the development will be around the size of Maynooth. It will have more than 5,500 homes, as well as community facilities, two train stations, and 225 acres of green space.
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