Looking ahead to the Irish Fit Out Conference

On 11 June, the McCue team will be in Dublin for the Fit Out Conference 2026 at the Crowne Plaza, Santry.

It's a notable one. Run by the Fit Out Awards as a full day that brings the industry together at senior level, with keynotes and panels across the issues genuinely shaping our work: the value of place, the commercial power of design, the changing role of the contractor and what the next five years hold.

That's a conversation we want to be part of. After 70 years in the business, we've learned the best thinking in this industry rarely comes from a brochure — it comes from the people delivering the work.

If you're attending, come and find us. We'd be glad to talk fit-out, craftsmanship and what's coming next.

Want to meet the McCue team in Dublin? Get in touch before 11 June.

One theme on this year's programme stands out to us and that is the changing role of the contractor.

The old model was simple. Designers design, then the contractor builds. Last link in the chain, brought in once the real decisions are made.

That model is fading, and rightly so. Space now has to earn its keep, judged on productivity, brand and how it makes people feel. But none of that value lands if the design can't be built well, on programme and on budget.

The strongest spaces come from design and delivery pulling in the same direction. Get the contractor in the room earlier and you design out risk before it costs anyone money — through buildability, honest cost advice and materials that hold up. Sustainability sharpens the point further: ESG is now written into the spec, not bolted on at the end.

After 70 years, this is simply the way we've always preferred to work. Close to the design, honest about what's deliverable, focused on the result the client walks into.

The industry is catching up to something good contractors have long known: done right, the build shapes everything before it.

That's the conversation worth having in Dublin this June.