News & Insights
Bríd Murphy – ‘Mercury offers the chance to play a part on the most innovative, ground-breaking projects in Europe’
For Bríd Murphy, joining Mercury earlier this year was something of a full circle moment. She grew up in Co. Mayo, Ireland, where Mercury was working on the nearby Corrib Gas Terminal in Ballinaboy. “I remember seeing the Mercury team passing by every morning while I was on my way to school,” she recalls.
Having recently become part of the Mercury team herself, Bríd is now working as a Construction Manager on a complex data centre project in Brussels, Belgium. She considers this recent career move as a major milestone, in what has been an impressive journey in the industry, over the past eight years.
Bríd kick-started her career in construction as a quantity surveyor on an infrastructure project in London back in 2017. She spent a number of years working and living in the UK capital, where she developed her skillset while working as an MEP manager in the commercial and residential sectors. While she enjoyed completing these projects, Bríd always had an urge to challenge herself further and wanted to work on complex technology projects for multinational clients. She made the leap in 2022 when she joined Mercury and hasn’t look back since transitioning her career to the data centre sector.
As a construction manager on a fast-moving data centre project, her role involves facilitating and managing sub-contractors throughout various installation processes. Bríd speaks fondly of one particular aspect of her role – shaping an empowered and supportive environment in which our people and supply-chain teams can realise their full potential. “So much of what I do involves establishing a cohesive team setting, and one of the best parts is seeing the vision discussed at the outset of the project come to fruition as a result. When the team works well together the project flourishes,” she states. She’s proud of being able to fulfil Mercury’s bold promise that we go beyond the call of duty to always deliver.
What drew Bríd to Mercury? “Working for a leading European contractor was something I had always aimed for. Learning new things is incredibly important to me and at Mercury I’ve been able to gain so much knowledge in a short space of time.” She continues, “Delivering innovative technologies in a mainland Europe country means that I get to work with new methods and materials that would not have been available to me in the Irish market. It’s been an amazing opportunity to expand my knowledge and become a better overall construction manager as a result.”
Bríd asserts that at Mercury new talent is nurtured in order to ensure that the team can deliver innovative solutions for the world’s leading corporations. “Challenges are considered opportunities” and the team she works with pushes her to reach her full potential. She elaborates, “The culture here is just fantastic, everyone is passionate about the work they are doing, and we’re all working towards the same overarching goal.”
As a keen adventurer, this career move marked “not just a fantastic opportunity for my professional life, but also for my personal life.” “It was an opportunity I couldn’t turn down” she says, “In my opinion Brussels is the most underrated city in Europe with solid infrastructure, stunning architecture, and a terrific cultural scene.” Since moving to the continent, Bríd has enjoyed making use of her spare time, “So far I’ve been to Paris, Amsterdam, and London – they are all less than two hours away by train, and I’m off to Switzerland this month.”
It’s safe to say Bríd is making it happen and living the European dream, but how did she find the transition from more familiar territory in London to mainland Europe? She’s emphatic that her colleagues have been like a family, “We work together and often socialise together too so there’s a strong sense of family where everyone looks out for each other and that really translates on site,” she explains.
Continually looking for ways to transcend industry norms, Mercury is leading the way in making the construction industry more female friendly with women holding several top positions across both corporate and construction roles, Bríd is energised by this fact that and believes that the female population within the industry is steadily increasing. She adds “It’s important to me that we begin to see more and more women in on-site positions.”
“The fact that no two days are the same – there’s something new to focus on every day” is what Brid describes as the best part of her job. “The practical experience I’ve gained in such a short space of time has been career-changing and I would highly recommend Mercury as they offer the chance to play a part on some of the most innovative, ground-breaking projects in Europe, with a great team.”
At Mercury, we value new talent to ensure we stay ahead and achieve the incredible. We provide our people with challenging opportunities to develop within a great team, and back them to realise their vision of themselves. If you are ready to make a bold next step in your career, click here to view our available jobs.
