Provides onsite solution for €130million project
Kildare-based modular building company RoanKabin has been awarded the €250,000-worth contract to provide construction project offices for Sisk in the €130m redevelopment project for the Mater Hospital.
RoanKabin has a strong relationship with Sisk having supplied buildings to the company for over 25 years including the projects offices for development of the new Aviva Stadium at Lansdowne Rd.
The project was awarded to RoanKabin based on a combination of our proven track record, cost, quality, programme and management approach.
The 10,000ft three storey RoanPlan Modular Building will house both the Sisk and Mater Campus Hospital Development project teams. The building has been specially designed to accommodate an additional fourth storey.
As Daniel McEvoy, marketing manager with RoanKabin explains: “SISK needed to have the confidence of having its project offices ready in time. We were the only supplier that could promise to deliver offices of these dimensions within this period. Speed, space and price were all key elements that we could offer over the competition.”
The Sisk project offices will be erected on site within one month, allowing Sisk’s onsite project team to be fully operational by mid September. The three storey building is currently being constructed off site in RoanKabin’s state of the art manufacturing facility and will transported to site in late August.
The RoanPlan Modular System uses individual galvanised steel modules to rapidly construct buildings of multiple storeys and of unlimited internal space, which can be tailor made to suit any purpose. This structural steel has a 60-year lifespan.
The RoanPlan System creates highly sophisticated structures with the durability to withstand the most rigorous demands. The core strength of Modular Building is adaptability, the load bearing frame allows for changes and alterations to the internal layout and in this case enables us accommodate an additional storey at a later stage if necessary.
“We have taken great pride and care in developing our RoanPlan system. Through constant research and design the RoanPlan Modular Building has evolved and still remains at the pinnacle of Modular Building System,” he adds.
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Tags: Mater Hospital redevelopment Dublin, modular building Ireland, offsite building Ireland, Practice PR, public relations, public relations company ireland, Public Relations Ireland, Roankabin, www.practicepr.ie
Irish Horse Welfare Trust IHWT is looking for homes for some of its retrained and rescued horses, currently homed at the Trust’s farm in Woodenbridge, Co. Wicklow. This week’s Wicklow People runs the story and a great picture of Jillian and her daughter Georgina with their horse Jaguar Claw.
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Espion highlights social networking security risks as Facebook marks 6th birthday
As Facebook celebrates its 6th birthday on 4th February, Irish information security company Espion urges people to be aware of the security risks associated with all social networking sites.
The Facebook Phenomenon
Facebook has become part of daily life for 350 millions users. If Facebook was a country (based on users being citizens), it would be the fourth largest country in the world. The rate of adoption has been staggering – within 9 months of launching, Facebook had 100 million active accounts. There are numerous other sites that can boast equally impressive numbers including MySpace, Bebo and professional networking sites such as LinkedIn which has over 55 million users in 200 countries.
“Social networking sites have given millions of users a forum to simplify communication with their peers – either personally or professionally – regardless of their physical location,” comments Colm Murphy, Technical Director with Espion. “Given the user base and the volume and nature of the content published, individuals and organisations need to be aware of the possible risks associated with these sites. By understanding how these sites function, how they might be targeted by cyber criminals and applying common sense, users should be able to enjoy these sites without compromising their systems or their information”
Social Networking Security risks
Malware –
Social networking sites are regular targets for virus and worm attacks. The majority of malware is introduced using applications that users create and upload onto sites and share with other users. As these rarely undergo any verification processes, they can be used to conceal malware designed to compromise systems and allow access to user information. Given the large user base, malware can spread extremely quickly and do a huge amount of damage if users are not careful what they click on.
Identity Theft –
Social networking sites require users to divulge a certain amount of personal information to activate an account. Once an account it set up, it is at the user’s discretion as to how much information they reveal about themselves. Users of social networking sites do not exercise the same caution when it comes to disclosing details about themselves or their friends as they would do in a face to face situation. Users need to understand that information they post is permanently stored and traceable, which over time creates a Digital Footprint. Individuals with a large digital footprint can be targets for identity theft, as cyber criminals are able to piece together enough details to masquerade as someone they are not.
Privacy issues –
Aside from the risk of identity theft, social networking has raised general privacy concerns. In December 2009, Facebook very publicly updated its privacy settings, aimed at giving users more control over the information they shared. However, where users ignored the details of this change and accepted the default setting they have essentially allowed all account information to be viewed by any person through third party websites including internet search engines like Google, Bing, etc.
Corporate network breaches –
Any employees accessing their social networking sites from work may be compromising corporate systems. Companies need to consider the risk this poses to them and enforce the necessary policies required to protect their own information and that of their clients.
Top Tips for safe Social Networking
1. Manage your personal information – As a user you need to be aware of how social network sites work; how the information about you is managed, whether it is posted by you or someone else. You need to know who can see your information and how you can keep it private.
- Educate yourself about the site before becoming an active user
- Ensure you are aware of the privacy settings and continuously check for updates, securing your options and preferences provide the highest levels of protection possible
- Frequently change your password and ensure that you have different passwords for different sites
- Be aware that some sites may share your account information including email addresses or account preferences with third parties, without consulting you
- Remember, even if your profile is private, information about you and photos of you can also be accessed by third parties through your friends’ pages if they do not secure their settings, or through networks or applications you join.
- 2. Manage your network – The same rules apply online as in real life. Apply common sense and have a general awareness of ways in which cyber criminals can target victims on social networking sites.
-The internet makes it easy for people to misrepresent their identities and motives.
-Consider limiting the people who are allowed to contact you
-Control the amount of information you disclose about yourself
-Criminals scan social networking sites in search of potential victims to defraud
- 3. Manage your content – Exercise good judgment when posting any content about yourself or anyone else on to a social networking site. Consider that you have no control over who will see it and how it might be used.
-Be discreet; never type anything into an online electronic forum that would make you a target for identity theft; personal and business names and addresses, phone numbers, job titles, birthdays etc.
-Only post information you would be happy for the whole world to see – this applies to your profile, your page, comments on other peoples’ pages, blogs and other online media. Assume that anything you put online could end up on the front page of a newspaper.
-Assume anything that you publish on a social networking site is permanent. Removing content from social networking sites is extremely difficult, if not impossible. Even if you do manage to delete content, it may remain saved or cached on other people’s computers.
-Regardless of your privacy settings, you should never assume that content posted online is completely private.
Manage your Corporate Network
- Manage access to and use of applications within social networking sites.
i. Implement acceptable use policies and technical controls to enforce these policies, including web filtering, anti virus software, firewalls etc.
ii. Establish a balance between employee needs and productivity or security
iii. Ensure compliance by way of logging and archival
- Ensure optimal protection by continually updating policies in line with new social networking sites and applications hosted by those sites
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Tags: Colm Murphy, Espion, Facebook 6th birthday, information security, information security Ireland, IT security, IT security Ireland, PR company, Practice PR, public relations, public relations company ireland, safe social networking, www.practicepr.ie
Learning Space competition winners announced
Queen’s University Belfast graduates Laura Martin and Cormac Maguire from County Antrim, have been selected as the winners of UCD’s Learning Space competition for their design of the new school building for Holy Rosary Primary School, in Ballycragh, Firhouse, Dublin 24.
St. John Walsh, from Cork; Sarah Williams, from Dublin; and Deirdre Brophy, from Dublin, were the other three finalists of the competition, organised by UCD Architecture and sponsored by Irish Offsite and Modular Buildings specialist RoanKabin to find a new design for the Tallaght school, while giving students and graduates the opportunity to showcase their talent. The four finalists were shortlisted from 20 participants.
The winners received a cash prize and the opportunity to take up a three-month work placement with sponsor RoanKabin, at the company’s drawings and contracts department in County Kildare. St. John Walsh and Sarah Williams who came second and third respectively also received cash prizes.
The Learning Space workshop and competition was organised within the wider NOW WHAT? program, set up by UCD Architecture in July 2009 as a response to the decline in employment for graduate architects. With architects facing up to 50% unemployment this year, the NOW WHAT? initiative aims to encourage young architects and avoid the loss of talented and highly educated architecture graduates due to the lack of employment prospects.
The workshop leaders, Emmett Scanlon and Deirdre Mc Kenna of UCD Architecture were asked by the school management to help them develop some ideas for their new building. Holy Rosary is a unique school, with a very diverse student population of over 500 students of 40 nationalities
“After some discussion with the principal, we thought it would be best to try and harness the creative energy of architectural students and more specifically recent graduates and to focus this energy on generating new ideas for the school. This would also provide some real, productive, creative outlet for recent graduates in architecture as all graduates are experiencing unprecedented difficulty in finding employment as architects in Ireland,” explains Scanlon, a lecturer in architecture at UCD.
Paddy McEvoy, Managing Director of RoanKabin, explains the company’s involvement with this unique competition: “RoanKabin is very active in the Education sector and we are constantly developing new and innovative building solutions, from a design and from a sustainability point of view. All the projects presented today had a main focus: creating a sustainable school project and we are delighted to be involved since we share a common interest in sustainability as the base for the schools of the future in Ireland.”
School Principal Max Cannon was very impressed with the quality of the projects presented. “We got ideas from staff and children at the school and we set up a list of what they would like to have in their new school: respect for the environment, community, respect for local history, and facilities for special needs were among the top priorities,” he explains.
“I think the participants really listened to what the teachers and children had to say. They took into account the needs and requirements of the school and they came up with very innovative ideas, taking into account not just the school curriculum but also innovation in building materials and future-proofing the school in relation to ICT as well.”
Cannon points out many unique concepts were incorporated to the projects and really captured the panel’s imagination: an indoor/outdoor classroom, a school divided in blocks that would allow the school to manage energy more effectively, allocated plots where children and parents could grow vegetables, and many more quirky designs, supported by sustainable systems, such as solar panels and geothermal heat pumps.
“The winning project was unique as it was clear Laura and Cormac had done very in depth research and put a great effort into their presentation that showed the project in great detail. It made it very easy for the panel to see how the new building would work,” he adds.
The development of the winning project will now depend on the Irish Department of Education.
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Tags: Cormac Maguire, Deirdre McKenna, Emmet Scanlon, Holy Rosary Primary School Dublin, Laura Martin, Learning Space competition, Max Cannon, Paddy McEvoy, Roankabin, UCD Architecture, young architects Ireland
Horses looking for new homes
Charity Irish Horse Welfare Trust (IHWT) is looking for new homes for some of the rescued horses currently homed at the charity’s farm in Woodenbridge, Co. Wicklow.
IHWT rescued a large number of horses from a Co. Kilkenny farm in December. The rescued horses, mainly of sport horse breeding, were initially seized by Department of Agriculture on welfare grounds, as they had been abandoned, and were to be slaughtered. IHWT appealed to the Department of Agriculture to save the horses which resulted in the charity’s staff and volunteers collecting the horses and transporting them into care.
The Wicklow-based charity is now seeking good homes for these rescued horses. Anyone interested in re-homing should contact IHWT on (0404) 45720 or (0404) 30773 or visit www.ihwt.ie.
According to animal welfare charities, the recession has dramatically increased the number of horses being abandoned by their owners. This has multiplied the number of horses being rescued and sheltered by IHWT in Wicklow. But IHWT staff and volunteers are confident many families across Ireland might be looking for a horse and this is the perfect opportunity for both horse-lovers and the rescued animals.
Jillian Godsil from Coolboy, in Co Wicklow, recently re-homed an ex racehorse, Jaguar Claw, from the IHWT. Jaguar Claw was ridden by famous jockey Ruby Walsh and enjoyed success on the track before being retired four years ago.
“Until October last year, my daughter had been riding a beautiful bay mare called Ballyknocker Shiraz, She used the mare for interschools show jumping competitions, ponyclub events and hunter trials. Tragically, Shiraz had to be been put down after an infection in her hoof failed to heal,” explains Jillian. “It was very hard to see Shiraz go.”
Timing is everything as when Jillian rang the Trust, she discovered that Jaguar Claw was looking for a home. The 16 2 racehorse is now happily ensconced in Coolboy and has already competed in a number of interschools competitions, earning a double clear on his last day out. For Jillian’s daughter it is an amazing opportunity to take care and ride a wonderful show jumper. For Jaguar Claw, it is a new life as a show jumper and together horse and rider have ambitions to travel to Hickstead in the summer to compete on behalf of the school, Colaiste Bhride in Carnew.
“I would encourage anybody looking for a horse to contact the Trust. It is a perfect match for both horse lovers and horses. In return for a donation, you can bring one of the horses home. The horse remains property of the IHWT but you can still enjoy the riding without the cost of buying it. And you’ll be giving rescued and re-trained horses a new caring home and new lease of life,” she adds.
The Irish Horse Welfare Trust, Charity No. CHY14634, was established in 1999 and gained charitable status in 2002. IHWT is involved in the rescue, rehabilitation and re-homing of horses and ponies, as well as campaigning and promoting Equine Welfare Awareness and Education.
The IHWT farm in Woodenbridge is open to visitors on Saturday afternoons between 2pm and 4pm and also by appointment.
IHWT is also on Facebook, you can join its network here:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Irish-Horse-Welfare-Trust/191759453021
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Tags: horse charity Ireland, horses Ireland, horses looking for new homes, IHWT, Irish Horse Welfare Trust
Specialising in Education Sector
Net Communications, leading providers of technology for business and education, has been selected as a Preferred Partner by HP. The Preferred Partner status is in recognition for Net Communications’ particular strength in the Educational Sector.
Marcus McKenna, Head of Channel Sales for HP Ireland says, “We are excited about working in partnership with Net Communications as an Education Value Partner in Ireland. Our partnership is based around HP quality client and server platforms supporting a wide variety of innovative educational tools and services.”
Net Communications is established as a leading provider of IT based solutions to the Education sector. It is this focus, their detailed understanding of the practical challenges facing primary and secondary education and their determination to utilise the best available IT hardware and software to provide enhanced educational content, tools and services to schools throughout Ireland that have made them our Preferred Partner.”
Net Communications offers full IT turnkey solutions to both Business and Education sectors. It is also integrated into the Procurement Framework set up the Department of Education. The Procurement Framework is newly introduced and assists schools to buy quality products and services at a competitive price. It simplifies the purchasing processes and presents only suppliers that have been through the rigorous vetting process operated by the Department.
Paul Roche, managing director of Net Communications is very happy with the recognition. ‘We have worked extensively with Primary, Secondary and Third Level institutions across the country developing projects and have a very good understanding of what is needed,” he explains. “We advise schools on the right ICT investments for their particular needs. We help them make informed choices.”
Roche has an advantage on most IT advisers as his early career was as a teacher for more than ten years. Following that, he was involved for many years in teacher in-service training for University of Limerick and Marino Institute of Education. Roche’s extensive background in education gives Net Communications an insider’s view of the ICT needs of Irish classrooms, a clear advantage over competitors. The company prides itself on understanding Education and its ICT requirements better than most companies.
“Obtaining the Preferred Partnership status with HP is a tremendous feather in our cap and will enable us to better support our educational customers,” he says.
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Tags: Education Technology Ireland, HP, HP Preferred Partnership, Net Communications, technology for business, technology for education
Almost 60,000 products available online
Laboratory and process technology, services and solutions provider Carl Stuart Limited has chosen Pegasus Opera II to automate sales and purchase order processing, streamlining the creation of orders and invoices through batch processing.
Founded in 1984, Carl Stuart Limited operates from its head office in Dublin, and also has offices in Surrey and Belfast. The company currently has almost 60,000 product lines from its laboratory range available online at www.labunlimited.com.
“We have extensive stockholding facilities and offer rapid delivery on all items in stock, using recognised logistics suppliers. Our in-house systems are designed to minimise paperwork and efficiently process all orders in the minimum time frame,” says Michael Anderson, Operations Director at Carl Stuart Limited.
“We chose to enhance our implementation of Opera II because it offered the opportunity to automate a significant proportion of effort that up until now needed to be delivered manually. Automation has also removed much complexity in our system reducing the scope for error.”
As well as increasing the speed of order processing, the objective of the implementation was also to reduce the cost of processing each sales order, having closer integration of sales and purchase order (ensuring orders are progressed in sequence) and enhancing the reporting structure.
“The system allows us to have a clear picture of all orders within the system: from order book control, order status and allocated stock. Now having the ability to interrogate this data within Excel (via The Pegasus XRL API) the project has transformed our order processing systems giving control and confidence to everyone in our admin team,” adds Anderson.
He also highlights Carl Stuart’s strong relationship with Pegasus. “We have a long history with Pegasus, a very strong relationship based on trust. Pegasus Ireland knows and understands our business and respects the demands we place on their software. The support from the Pegasus team in Ireland is second to none, their ability to listen to and understand our needs has proved invaluable in identifying the specifications that delivered our requirements.”
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Tags: Carl Stuart, Laboratory technology Ireland, Pegasus Opera II Ireland, Pegasus Software, Pegasus Software Ireland, PR company, Practice PR, public relations, public relations company ireland, Public Relations Ireland, www.practicepr.ie
No business like snow business
The weather has been our main preocupation as a nation for the past few weeks. First it was ‘fingers crossed we’ll have a white Christmas’; by the end of the year we were still loving the unusual Winter Wonderland and then, when everybody had to get back to work on treacherous road conditions, it was just too much for the nation to bear… In the meantime, the snow kept other pressing issues at the back of everybody’s agendas: who remembered the recession? and the budget?
The ‘big freeze’ has been, in general, a blessing to the government, a blissful spell of peace and quiet: no mention of Spartan budgets, mortgage arrears or NAMA.
It was until the councils ran out of grit, the Minister for Transport forgot to come back from sunny Malta to face the chill, and we all needed someone to blame for the inconvenience. Now it all seems to be getting back to normal: back to work and back to the economy, but politicians can thank the snow they had a lovely, white and peaceful Christmas.
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Irish information security company Espion urges businesses and individuals to be aware of the top 10 Information Security risks that they may face in the year ahead.
“Developments in technologies can bring about vast improvements in both business and personal life. As companies and individuals embrace these advancements, they need to be aware of the possible risks, so as to be able to take full advantage of technical innovation without compromising critical or sensitive information,” explains Colm Murphy, technical director with Espion.
1. Social Networking – Sites such as Facebook, Bebo and MySpace offer cybercriminals a vast new world in which to target unsuspecting users. Malware can be cleverly disguised and can be distributed quickly and on a massive scale. The high levels of trust users place in social networking sites means they are an ideal target for the fraudsters, with a greatly likelihood they will succumb to an attack.
2. Malware attacks – Cyber criminals are using more creative means to package and deliver malware (viruses, worms, Trojans etc.). Increasingly, email is being used as the delivery mechanism containing seemingly innocent URL links shortened to disguise malicious site addresses, videos and pictures are all used to disguise and conceal malware. When activated, these software programs are designed to wreak havoc on a computer system and move on to infect more systems. The speed at which malware spreads and the damage caused continue to make malware rank highly as a security risk.
3. Scareware – Attackers and fraudsters use online pop-ups designed to look like messages from the operating system warning of a problem or virus infection to coerce users to download a program to “correct” the problem. In the worst cases, the program will itself be malicious and may damage the system or leave it vulnerable to attack/abuse. Ransomware enters a system through a security hole and encrypts personal files, making them inaccessible. The user is prompted to either buy a piece of decryption software or enter a code which can only be obtained by sending payment to the attacker.
4. Microsoft – Windows 7 is expected to be widely adopted by Microsoft users worldwide. This massive user base is a prime target for the opportunistic hacker looking to attack a new, unfamiliar operating system.
5. The Insider Threat – Information is stored in files and folders, accessible remotely by large numbers of users. Keeping it secure and safe from an internal breach, while allowing it to remain accessible to the majority of non-malicious employees, is an ongoing challenge. If employees feel their employment is under threat they may see sensitive data as a valuable commodity that can be used for their own gain – always to the detriment of their employer.
6. Localised attacks – Often attempts to deceive victims fail because they are clearly fraudulent, text used is grammatically incorrect, spelling errors raise red flags and graphics are poor replicas. However, attacks are becoming more refined, not only in appearance, but in relevance to the target. Attackers are researching more to use local references including culture; sports, events to appear more authentic and better their chances of defrauding their targets.
7. Smartphones – The convergence of telecommunications and computing is creating a new target for hackers. Smartphones are as likely to be attacked as traditional computers. The risk to personal and corporate data is greater as the availability of security applications for these devices is low. As the number of users and volume of data transmitted increases and more financial transactions are done using these devices they become a more attractive and lucrative target for attack.
8. Mac OS X –There is a widespread misconception that relative to PCs, Macs are resistant to attack. This results in users deploying far fewer security measures and not updating systems with security patches. Hackers will continue to target the OS X platform and Apple continues to respond with regular security updates.
9. Embedded Computing – As society relies increasingly on Information and Communications Technology (ICT) across all aspects of life, national critical information infrastructures – such as energy, transport and telecommunications- will become more and more connected to and reliant on the Internet. As beneficial as this is to the provision of services and communications it also exposes critical devices to the same risks and threats that exist online.
10. Virtualisation and Cloud Computing –Lower budgets and improvements in distributed computing and high-speed internet access, are making Cloud Computing and Virtualization appealing alternatives to costly and complex conventional computing methods. Cloud computing offers capacity and functionality over the Internet that is scalable, subscription-based and fully managed by the provider. Virtualization has lower power and space requirements and simplifies management. However, businesses need to consider the regulatory and legal issues associated with managing data and the new kinds of security challenges that these alternatives bring. How and where the data is stored and who has access to it? The issues are more complex if the data includes payment card information, as PCI-DSS requirements come into play.
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Tags: Espion, IT security, IT security Ireland, PR company, Practice PR, public relations, public relations company ireland, Public Relations Ireland, top 10 information security risks for 2010, top 10 information security risks Ireland, www.practicepr.ie
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- Tesco’s pyjamas drama
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- Jillian and Georgina with Jaguar Claw in this week’s Wicklow People
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- Queen’s University graduates reveal new design for Dublin primary school
- Horses looking for new homes
- Net Communications selected as Preferred Partner by HP
- Carl Stuart chooses Pegasus Opera II to automate sales
- No business like snow business
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Tesco’s pyjamas drama
A Welsh shopper was banned last week from entering a Tesco store in Cardiff because she was wearing her pyjamas. According to the giant retailer, wearing your pyjamas in public can cause ‘embarrassment’ to other shoppers and it goes against its stores’ dress code. While the whole dress code for grocery shopping issue sounds like a first, we must admit it is definitely awkward bumping into your neighbors pushing shopping trolleys in their PJs – never mind if it’s a 24-hour store.
However, since the incident made it to the tabloids, an old Tesco TV ad has surfaced, where actor Martin Clunes appears to be casually shopping at a Tesco store (horror!) in his PJs! – which seems a bit contradictory to Tesco’s dress code. Tesco has now been accused of double-standards and hypocrisy by consumers and media.
So while we do agree people should dress according to the place and occasion (yes, nightwear should be restricted for indoor use!) Tesco has obviously been sending mixed signals to its customers.
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