Paul Conway spent more than 25 years delivering complex construction projects across Ireland, Europe, the Middle East, and the United States. Having worked internationally with Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, and Mac-group, Paul became increasingly focused on finding construction methods that could improve quality, certainty, & long-term building performance - and bringing them to Ireland to help streamline the delivery of homes. Following extensive evaluation of modern methods of construction, he identified BuildBlock's insulated concrete form (ICF) system as a solution with the potential to raise standards in Irish construction. Today, through a strategic manufacturing partnership with Kingspan, Paul leads BuildBlock Ireland's mission to deliver high-performance, locally manufactured ICF systems to the Irish and UK markets.
The BuildBlock Insulated Concrete Formwork system has been used across residential and commercial projects in the United States for more than 20 years, building a strong track record around thermal performance, durability, and energy efficiency. So Paul set about figuring out how it would be manufactured and delivered into the Irish market.
“Anyone can agree around a table once,” Paul says. “Building a long-term partnership is different. You only find out if people share the same standards when you've worked together over time.”
Over four years, both sides got to understand how the other operated, what standards mattered, and what level of quality was expected. The relationship developed gradually through conversations, workshops, and a growing understanding of what both organisations wanted to achieve.
One of the defining moments came during a visit to Austria to see the BuildBlock moulds first-hand. The Kingspan team travelled from Ireland to understand how the system had been developed and to see the manufacturing process up close. Until then, many of the discussions had focused on the opportunity in Ireland and how the system could be produced. Seeing the moulds in person changed the conversation.
The team were able to see the level of engineering, investment, and precision that had gone into developing the system. The moulds represented years of development work, and seeing them first-hand gave a much clearer understanding of what sat behind the product. Paul remembers the reaction being overwhelmingly positive. The excitement from the Kingspan team was immediate and the discussions afterwards carried a different level of understanding.
“There was real buy-in from the factory team from that point on.” Paul Conway
Kingspan and their factory in Askeaton brought an established manufacturing environment with existing systems, workflows, and quality procedures already in place. The factory was already operating within a structured production environment to internationally recognised ISO standards covering quality management, environmental management, health & safety, and compliance systems.
As projects become larger and delivery programmes tighten, maintaining consistency becomes increasingly important. Having established production systems already in place provided a strong foundation for bringing BuildBlock into the Irish market.
For investors, design teams and contractors, reliability during delivery has become increasingly important. Product performance remains part of the conversation, but confidence in supply, manufacturing standards, and long-term support now carry greater weight than they once did.
For Paul, the strength of BuildBlock in Ireland comes from bringing together a proven system, an established manufacturing environment, and a team that shares the same commitment to delivering the product properly.
Whether you are a developer, design team member, contractor (or just curious!) you can see how BuildBlock is being applied across projects in Ireland here.
