Engineering giant Jacobs plans to hire and additional 200 staff in Ireland over the next two years, following the opening of new offices in Cork.

The new roles will be professional services positions across a range of specialities, project and construction management, design, commissioning, qualification and validation.

The official opening of the new offices marks 45 years since opening its office in Dublin in 1974, the Texas company's first operation outside the US.

The company says it has almost doubled its Irish footprint in the past five years due to its growth in construction management, commissioning and validation, and now employs c. 1,100 people in Dublin, Cork and Belfast.

One of the group's operating companies, Jacobs Engineering Ireland Ltd, had 431 people on the payroll in the year to September 2018. Average pay and pension benefit was €74,000 in the period compared with €69,600 the previous year. The company’s turnover declined 37% year-on-year to €276m, and operating profit was €13.1m

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Chairman and chief executive Steve Demetriou commented: “We opened our Dublin office 45 years ago to design and build a pharmaceutical plant. Today we continue to capture attractive growth opportunities for complex work in the advanced facilities and infrastructure markets that we are uniquely positioned to perform. I attribute this to our highly talented people and their relentless commitment to providing world-class, high-value solutions for our clients.”

Demetriou added that the Cork office investment includes the latest virtual and augmented reality technology, offering clients the ability to assess plans in 3-D, and a complete change of office layout that reflects a move to a collaborative working environment.

Photo: Steve Demetriou (right) with minister Michael Creed (centre) and Micheál O’Connor, general manager of Jacobs Ireland. (Pic: Julien Behal)