Board, Council and Committees
The Federation’s Board and its representative Council and Committees meet regularly in order to discuss the issues that are of most relevance and concern to members, with the aim of finding solutions that can benefit the entire industry.
Board
The Federation's Board comprises the President, Vice-President, Immediate Past President, Treasurer, Council Director and the Managing Director. The Board are the statutory directors of the Federation. With the exception of the Managing Director, the Board are nominated and appointed from within the CEF Council and serve on a voluntary non-remunerated basis. The offices are re-nominated annually at the AGM with Vice-President, President, Past-President and Council Director serving 2 year terms.
CEF President - Martin O'Kane, June 2022-
Martin O’Kane is the Deputy Group Managing Director of Heron Bros Ltd and joined the company in 1994, having worked previously in London and Coleraine. He has BSc Hons in Quantity Surveying from the University of Ulster, Diploma in Project Management from Queens University, Belfast and became a Fellow of the RICS in 2015.
Martin joined the CEF General Contractors Committee in 2009 and the Council in 2017,was appointed the CEF Vice President in May 2020 and President in June 2022.
CEF Vice President - Bryan Vaughan, June 2022-
Bryan is Managing Director of Vaughan Homes, a family firm building private homes in NI for the past 35 years. He has 33 years experience in the house building industry.
CEF Past President, John Tracey, 2020-2022
John Tracey is the Managing Director of Tracey Brothers Ltd – a family owned, Fermanagh based construction company who have been operating in the Construction Industry for close to 70 years.
John’s professional career began as an engineer with Murphy International in London. During his time with Murphy Group, he worked across a diverse range of sectors including piling, construction and term contracts.
He then returned to join the family business and fulfilled several roles before taking the helm as Managing Director. Over the past twenty years the business has grown and diversified, and the company have established themselves as one of Ireland’s leading construction companies.
John joined the Council in 2013 and served as CEF President from May 2020 til June 2022.
Federation Council
The Federation Council is the policy making body of the Federation. Members of Council are elected through direct nominations from the Federation's four specialist sector committees. The Federation Council determines the future strategy for the Federation and the operational details are then carried out through the sector committees.
The Council also nominates representatives to other outside bodies associated with the construction industry including the Joint Council for the Building and Civil Engineering Industry (NI).
Current Membership
| Office | Name | Company |
| President | Martin O'Kane | Heron Brothers |
| Vice President | Bryan Vaughan | Vaughan Homes |
| Past President | John Tracey | Tracey Brothers |
| Treasurer | Mark Kelly | Kelly Brothers |
| Freddie Patterson | Lagan Specialist Contracting Group | |
| John Wilson | Northstone | |
| David Hamilton | Martin & Hamilton | |
| Aidan Mullan | Whitemountain | |
| Martin Lennon | OHMG | |
| Andrew Bill | GRAHAM | |
| Aidan Flynn | FLYNN | |
| Aaron Hughes | GEDA Construction | |
| Connaire McGreevy | CTS Projects | |
| Janet Deane | Deane Public Works | |
| Seamus Devlin | McLaughlin & Harvey | |
| Ian Lowry | Lowry Building & Civil Engineering | |
| Martin Mallon | South Bank Square | |
| David Henry | Henry Brothers |
General Contractors Committee
The General Contractors Committee represents the interests of Federation members involved in general and commercial contracting in the private sector and in the delivery of public infrastructure such as schools, hospitals, and office accommodation.
This Committee liaises regularly with major government clients including the Department of Education, Department of Health, Construction Procurement Delivery (CPD) and the Department of Finance. These Liaison meetings involve discussion on procurement methods and workload programmes.
Current Committee Membership
| Name | Company |
| Freddie Patterson (Chair) | Lagan Specialist Contracting Group |
| Andrew Bill | GRAHAM |
| Dominic Lavery | Farrans |
| Ray Hutchinson | Gilbert-Ash |
| Gareth Mackey | MSM Contracts |
| Noel Mullan | Heron Brothers |
| Gerard McClelland | Ganson UK |
| Gareth Loye | Mascott Construction (Europe) |
| Peter Maguire | Tracey Brothers |
| Colin McKee | Moss Construction |
| Cormac Murphy | Glasgiven Contracts |
| Cathal O'Hare | OHMG |
| Mark Buchanan | Mannings Northern |
| Darren McKelvey | RJ McKelvey |
| David Henry | Henry Brothers |
| Ruairi O'Boyle | OB Construction |
| Damian Gill | Felix O'Hare |
| Robert Ewing | Woodvale Construction |
Private Housing Committee
The Private Housing Committee represents the interest of Federation members involved in the construction of private houses. The Committee liaises regularly with government agencies and statutory undertakers and other bodies that directly affect the provision of private houses, including the local councils, Department for Infrastructure, NI Environment Agency, NI Water, NIE Networks, NHBC, the Law Society and many others.
Current Committee Membership
|
Name |
Company |
| Martin Mallon (Chair) | South Bank Square |
| Conor Mulligan | Lagan Homes |
| James Fraser | Fraser Partners |
| Bryan Vaughan | Vaughan Homes |
| David Magee | Antrim Construction |
| Gareth Wilson | Farrans |
| Conor Lavery | Charles Lavery & Sons |
| Noel Young | P Young & Sons |
| Joe McGinnis | Braidwater Group |
| Trevor Kennedy | Hagan Homes |
| John Paul McGinnis | McGinnis Group |
| Paul O'Rourke | Lotus Homes |
| Johnny McKaigue | P&K McKaigue |
| Michael Lindsay | Rosemount Homes |
| David Millar | Fraser Millar |
| Aveen Rafferty | Northland Developments |
Civil Engineering Committee
The Civil Engineering Committee represents the interests of Federation members involved in civil engineering works. The Committee liaises regularly with Department for Infrastructure, Translink, NI Water, Rivers Agency, Construction Procurement Delivery (CPD) and the Strategic Investment Board through the Civil Engineering Consultative Committee.
Current Committee Membership
| Name | Company |
| Leo Martin (Chair) | GRAHAM |
| Seamus Devlin | McLaughlin & Harvey |
| Neil Sturdy | Farrans |
| Gareth Telford | Northstone |
| Sean Brennan | Whitemountain |
| Barney McEldowney | BSG Civil Engineering |
| Ian Lowry | Lowry Building & Civil Engineering |
| Patrick Harney | Lagan Specialist Contracting Group |
| Ian Alexander | William & Henry Alexander |
| John Kearney | McQuillan Companies |
| Allan McMullan | Dawson-Wam |
| Seamus Donaghy | GEDA Construction |
| Alejandro Mendoza Monfort | Sacyr UK |
| Keith Nixon | Deane Public Works |
Social Housing Committee
The Social Housing Committee represents the interests of Federation members involved in the construction of social houses. The committee liaises regularly with the Housing Associations, Northern Ireland Housing Executive and the Department for Communities.
Current Committee Membership
| Name | Company |
| Mark Kelly (Chair) | Kelly Brothers |
| Eddie Murnin | GEDA Construction |
| Kevin Watson | Kevin Watson Group |
| Brian Fox | Bann |
| Gerry McEvoy | Mascott Construction (Europe) |
| Mark Gilmore | EHA Group |
| Conor Connolly | Connolly & Fee |
| Marie Ferguson | Braidwater Group |
| Serena Hylands | CTS Projects |
| Johnny McKaigue | P&K McKaigue |
| Darin McKeown | EQUANS |
| Adam Lowry | Lowry Building & Civil Engineering |
Health & Safety Committee
The Health & Safety Committee represents the interests of Federation members in the industry wide area of health and safety.
The Committee liaises regularly with the Health & Safety Executive Northern Ireland (HSENI) and issues guidance and resources to assist members with keeping their workforce safe.
Current Committee Membership
| Name | Company |
| Declan McLogan (Chair) | McAleer & Rushe |
| David Wallace | Henry Brothers |
| Caroline Hughes | Heron Brothers |
| Damian McErlain | Combined Facilities Management |
| Donna McCullagh | Adman Civils |
| Jerome Hamill | MSM Contracts |
| Liam McConologue | Braidwater Homes |
| Donna Teague | Deane Public Works |
People & Skills Task Force
The CEF People & Skills Task Force was set up in 2021 to pool resources on vital industry challenges including modern slavery, diversity, recruitment, mental health and a host of other topics.
| Name | Company |
| Aideen Jeffrey | Farrans |
| Christina Walsh | GEDA |
| Maria Bradley | Gilbert Ash |
| Nuala Griffiths | Heron Bros |
| Roisin Kearney | CFM |
| Rodney Moates | Dawson WAM |
| Sandra Overend | Henry Bros |
| Michael Smyth | Graham |
| Noel McKee | Mascott |
| Shanua Young | McLaughlin Harvey |
ConstructZero Task Force
The CEF ConstructZero Task Force was set up in 2021 to focus on the vital emerging agenda of carbon reduction and to assist members in achieving netzero by 2050 in line with CLC's Constructzero plan.
| Name | Company |
| Andrew Cooke | Graham |
| Charlene Jones | Henry Bros |
| Charleen Millen | McAleer & Rushe |
| Craig Chisholm | McQuillan |
| Deborah Madden | Henry Bros |
| Gerard McColgan | Dawson WAM |
| Grace McGurk | McQuillan |
| Liam McEvoy | SustainIQ |
| Vicki Johnston | Farrans |
Risk & Procurement Task Force
The CEF Risk & Procurement Task Force was set up in 2021 to provide vital inustry feedback on a host of procurement changes arising through Procurement Board and in general across the secto
|
Name |
Company |
| Allen McMullan | Dawson WAM |
| Jemma Lowry | Lowry Building |
| Jill Harrower-Steele | Lagan SCG |
| Gary Blair | Farrans |
| Gerard Graham | QMAC |
| Ian Lowry | Lowry Building |
| Jonathan Hall | Graham |
| Karl McKillop | Heron Bros |
| Kevin Watson | KWG |
| Michael Donnelly | McQuillan |
| Peter Maguire | Tracey Bros |
| Trish White | Farrans |
