Ardmac has achieved ISO 56001:2024 certification, independently confirming that innovation is governed, resourced, measured and continually improved across our business—so that ideas can be translated into safer delivery, greater certainty and measurable value for our clients.
Ardmac is among the first construction companies in the world to achieve ISO 56001:2024 certification, and the first in Ireland.
Following a comprehensive audit of Ardmac’s Innovation Management System, certification body APCER confirmed that Ardmac meets the requirements of ISO 56001:2024. The audit examined the leadership, strategy, governance, processes and continual-improvement disciplines that enable us to identify opportunities, develop and implement solutions, evaluate results and scale learning across the organisation.
This discipline is already visible in our work: in 2025, over a third of the projects Ardmac delivered contained measurable R&D activity.
What is ISO 56001:2024?
ISO 56001:2024 is the international standard for innovation management systems. It gives organisations a disciplined framework to manage innovation consistently, reduce uncertainty and turn new ideas into lasting value. Ardmac has an innovation management system certified by APCER according to the standard ISO 56001:2024.
From ideas to impact
For Ardmac, the standard turns innovation from a series of individual initiatives into an organisation-wide capability. It formalises how we align innovation with strategy, understand client and stakeholder needs, prioritise opportunities, manage risk, develop solutions, monitor performance and improve what we do. This strengthens our “From ideas to impact” approach, through which we combine Lean Construction, BIM, digital technologies and structured problem-solving to empower our people, drive performance and deliver better outcomes for our clients.
Strengthening innovation in construction
At Ardmac, innovation starts with a practical challenge: how can we make project delivery safer, smarter, faster and more predictable for our clients? Our clients across Europe operate at the forefront of life sciences, data centres, semiconductor, battery manufacturing and advanced manufacturing, where speed, precision, quality and compliance are critical.
We respond by integrating technical expertise, digital construction, manufacturing capability and collaborative delivery from the earliest stages of a project.
Where we innovate
- Data centres: hot aisle containment, liquid-cooled manifolds integrated into containment for high-density AI workloads, fire-rated doors and panels, data hall ceiling systems, and modular, skid-mounted solutions.
- Life sciences and semiconductors: cleanroom systems and robotic precision installation that raise quality and consistency in controlled environments. [confirm specifics] • Battery manufacturing: dry rooms and controlled environments for cell and battery production, where humidity, airtightness and contamination must be held within tight limits. We apply our cleanroom specialism to the envelope, airtight detailing, integrated services and modular construction, so that facilities can be built, validated and brought into production with confidence.
- Off-site and advanced manufacturing: design for manufacture and assembly, factory-tested modules and kits of parts that reduce work in live environments.
- AI integration and augmentation: AI applied to estimating, bid preparation, design and document review, and project knowledge capture – helping our people work faster while they keep control of every decision. [confirm]
- Product development: new products developed in-house for mission-critical environments, taken from concept through testing to project delivery.
These capabilities are already embedded in how Ardmac delivers projects. Together, they improve coordination, reduce waste, support safer execution and create greater certainty across quality, programme and project outcomes.
ISO 56001 brings this activity together within one recognised framework, giving our teams a consistent way to develop, assess and scale innovation across the organisation.
The work behind the certification
Achieving certification required Ardmac to bring its existing innovation activity together within a defined management system. This included clarifying leadership accountability, innovation policy and objectives; connecting innovation priorities to business and client needs; establishing consistent processes for progressing initiatives; and creating mechanisms to measure outcomes, capture learning and drive continual improvement. The work builds on Ardmac’s “From ideas to impact” approach and the contribution of teams across Lean Construction, BIM, digital construction, design, engineering, manufacturing, sustainability and continuous improvement. The certification audit independently tested whether these activities were supported by clear governance, documented evidence and a shared commitment across the business.
Certification is therefore more than recognition of individual technologies or ideas. It demonstrates that Ardmac has put the organisational foundations in place to manage innovation systematically, repeat successful approaches and apply learning across projects, teams and markets.
“Our clients are building the facilities of the future. Certification shows we have the dedicated teams and systematic approach to match their ambition: solving their problems, developing better solutions and proving value across our projects.”
— Peter Lonergan, Head of Innovation, Ardmac
Innovation that delivers value for clients
For Ardmac, innovation is not an end in itself. The purpose of our certified system is to help us understand client challenges earlier, select the right opportunities, develop practical solutions and evaluate whether they deliver meaningful value. This disciplined approach supports safer execution, improved quality, reduced waste, clearer information, greater programme certainty and solutions that can be repeated and scaled. What this means for our clients
Our clients work in sectors that never stand still. Their facilities are mission-critical, and their technologies keep advancing. Our certified system means we can match that ambition and respond as their needs evolve:
- Meaningful innovation, well managed: R&D and innovation are prioritised by the value they bring to the client’s facility and assessed for risk before they reach site.
- Ready for what comes next: a disciplined route from problem to proven solution, so we can adapt quickly as sectors adopt new technology.
- A partner that shares your ambition: we approach innovation the way our clients do, turning their challenges into practical, proven improvements.
Our Off-Site Manufacturing capability is one example. Components and modules are designed, manufactured and tested in a controlled environment before delivery to site, enabling parallel workflows and reducing activity in live environments.
Designed for sectors including life sciences, data centres and advanced manufacturing, Ardmac’s OSM solutions support improved quality, fewer hours on site, greater schedule confidence, increased standardisation and the flexibility to adapt as client needs evolve.
In the same way, BIM, Lean methodologies and digital technologies enable earlier coordination, clearer information flow and better, faster decision-making across project teams. ISO 56001 strengthens the system around these capabilities: client needs inform priorities, initiatives are assessed consistently, outcomes are measured and successful solutions can be transferred across the business.
Creating a structured Innovation Management System
A central strength of ISO 56001 is its focus on making innovation a structured, repeatable and continually improving organisational process.
Rather than relying on individual projects or isolated initiatives, our Innovation Management System connects opportunity identification, idea development, implementation and value assessment through a common process.
That structure is particularly valuable in construction, where opportunities to innovate arise throughout the project lifecycle — from design and planning to procurement, manufacturing, digital delivery, site operations and handover.
For Ardmac, this creates a platform to connect teams, share learning and scale effective solutions, while keeping client outcomes at the centre of every innovation decision.
Building on Ardmac’s culture of innovation
Innovation has long been central to Ardmac’s growth as a pan-European specialist contractor delivering precision-built environments and complex, mission-critical projects. Our Research, Development & Innovation activity includes data centre containment, liquid-cooled manifolds, fire-rated systems, skid-mounted solutions, cleanroom and dry room systems, Off-Site Manufacturing and AI integration — solutions developed to address real client and industry needs. Our product development teams take the most promising of these from concept to market.
Our Digital Innovation Committee supports this culture by helping teams evaluate and adopt new technologies and digital approaches responsibly, consistently and at scale.
ISO 56001:2024 certification independently recognises the strength of this approach and validates the systems, governance and communication that underpin Ardmac’s focus and commitment to innovation.
Looking ahead
Achieving ISO 56001:2024 certification is an important milestone, but its greater significance lies in what it enables next. Ardmac now has an independently recognised framework for continually strengthening how we identify opportunities, invest in the right ideas, share learning and turn innovation into practical value for clients.
As our clients’ requirements evolve, so too will the technologies, processes and construction methodologies we use to deliver safer, smarter and more predictable projects.
Our focus remains clear: to combine technical expertise, disciplined innovation and collaboration to deliver safer, smarter and more predictable outcomes for our clients.
Talk to our Innovation team → Contact Peter Lonergan, Head of Innovation
