The Health Service Executive has awarded Sligo-based Kilcawley Construction an €11.3 million contract for the deep retrofit and refurbishment of Block A at Galway West Business Park in Knocknacarra. The works will turn a former office block into an Enhanced Community Care hub and primary care centre, and are due to complete within 15 months.

The contract is worth €11,309,345 plus VAT, and the procurement attracted three tenders, evaluated 70 per cent on price and 30 per cent on quality. The scope covers around 3,750 square metres of open-plan office space, extensive mechanical and electrical installations and the fit-out of non-acute community diagnostic and treatment facilities.

The HSE bought the former Aviva building for €11.85 million, and an estimated fit-out cost of €14.85 million was set in February 2022 before building cost inflation. The hub will serve Knocknacarra and Salthill and be the permanent base for an Integrated Care Programme focused on chronic disease and older people, alongside two primary care teams supporting the local Community Health Network.

Kilcawley Construction is the trading name of Kilcawley Building & Civil Engineering (Sligo) Ltd, a privately held contractor founded in 1934 and headquartered at Sansheen Business Campus in Sligo. It reported annual turnover of over €50 million and 90 full-time staff in 2024, with a regional office in Maynooth.

Kilcawley works across energy, residential, pharmaceutical, healthcare, commercial, education, heritage and hospitality projects for both public and private clients.

The structural driver is state investment in community-based care, with the HSE retrofitting an existing office block rather than building new, so treatment can be delivered closer to home and avoidable hospital admissions reduced.

The conversion will bring clinical rooms for physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech and language, dietetics, podiatry, public health nursing and social work, and around 105 staff are understood to be based there.

For the sector, the Block A contract shows large healthcare fit-out programmes being delivered by regional contractors through competitive tender, with an existing commercial building converted to clinical use.

Source: Connacht Tribune / HSE / Building Ireland Magazine / Kilcawley Construction