Established and Irish owned since 1972
Celebrating 50 Years as Leaders in Irish Construction
Construction Information Services (CIS) is commemorating its 50th year since its establishment in 1972. Since then, it has cemented itself as a cornerstone of the construction and related industries, delivering comprehensive, well-researched, timely, and verified business opportunities and intelligence. CIS hopes to initiate a new era of growth throughout the year to honour its past achievements and to share with its members the milestones and challenges of the last 50 years while looking forward to future opportunities for many years to come.
First edition
See sample of the first CIS Report
The inaugural edition of the CIS Report was released on May 19th 1972, a date that the company’s founder, the Late Paddy Hayes, had etched into his memory. Paddy, who was 26 at the time, worked for Haden Young Limited, a mechanical and electrical engineering firm, and part of his job required him to check the planning files in the Planning Office regularly for potential business opportunities. He realized the business potential of this information while writing the report and created an initial sample report, printed 20 copies, and approached 20 organizations, 16 of which purchased the Report on a three-month subscription for just IR£19. John Paul Construction Limited, based in Windy Arbour, Dublin, was the first customer of the CIS Report, and they are still a cherished customer today.
“John Paul Construction are members of CIS since its foundation in 1972 and continue to use the CIS System as the Industry leading source of reliable and quality information. Our long relationship is testament to CIS for their continued innovation and excellent quality of service.” John Paul Construction Associate Director, Liam Casey
Roller-coaster
CIS has encountered a variety of industry and economic adversities in addition to changes in ownership during its 50-year journey in an ever-changing industry. It weathered several big economic downturns in the 1980s and 1990s, however, was the well-known financial and economic catastrophe that brought the construction industry to its knees, in the period 2008 to 2013. A resilient CIS withstood, despite losing 63% of its revenues, thanks to a change in business model, the use of technological means of gathering and processing data, and embracing the internet to create an online platform for its customers to access real-time construction information.
Today, CIS is an online service providing real-time advance information on the activity across all construction sectors on an All-Ireland basis!
More recently, we’ve had to persevere through the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak, alongside our customers and industry. However, once again CIS rose to the occasion, investing in and releasing a significantly redesigned online platform in 2021, solidifying our position and significantly improving our capacity to provide the greatest level of service to our consumers.
Today’s Company
As mentioned earlier, CIS has had many owners during its 50-year history, the longest stint being under the ownership of Paddy McSwiney and Tom Moloney when they acquired CIS from the Thompson Group. Tom was at the helm for 25 years, until his recent departure, directing it through numerous challenges, identifying opportunities, recognizing changing market conditions and adapting to those changes in order for CIS to continue to grow and maintain its pivotal position as being the market leader in the provision of construction and market intelligence.
CIS also celebrates a significant business milestone of 50 years as it has once again been acquired, this time by the Swedish Byggfakta Group through its UK company, Glenigan. This acquisition sees CIS and Glenigan come full circle after 25 years, as they were both owned by the Thompson Media Group back in the 1990’s.
“When looking to expand and enrich our service further into the Irish markets CIS was the obvious choice of company to acquire. They are an established and trusted brand in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and emulate the Glenigan ethos of providing the very best service possible for their customers. Glenigan is looking forward to welcoming the CIS team to the Glenigan family and to building on our joint expertise to deliver the most robust and dependable service that our customers can rely on”. Glenigan Chief Executive, Victoria McEwen
This acquisition enables CIS, its employees, and customers tremendous opportunities to continue growing, as being a part of a global organisation, it is envisaged that many synergies will rise that will benefit not only our customers, but staff also. On announcing the acquisition in October, former CIS Managing Director, Tom Moloney said.
“Joining Glenigan and the Byggfakta Group will accelerate CIS’s vision to be the leading authority on business intelligence for construction activity in Ireland” Tom Moloney
Vision for the Future
Today CIS has offices in Beacon South Quarter, Sandyford and Banbridge, Co. Down. It now has customers from over 100 business categories including Professionals, Contractors, Subcontractors, Financial Services and Suppliers of goods and services, often being referred to as the ‘The Bible of the Industry’.
With half a century now under our belt, we would like to take this opportunity to thank our many valued and loyal customers, both present and past, as we look forward to continuing our journey delivering our finest support and service to the Construction Sector.
