Whitbread has strengthened its development team in Ireland hiring Emma O’Shiel as project and programme manager.
O’Shiel, who has more than 15 years’ experience delivering building projects for the Isle of Man government and private clients, will lead the construction of Whitbread’s pipeline of secured development sites in Ireland. She will report to Matt Gent, Whitbread’s development manager for Ireland.
Whitbread currently operates six hotels in Dublin and Cork, providing more than 1,000 bedrooms with a further 1,000 bedrooms in the pipeline. It has a medium-term target of building 5,000 Premier Inn bedrooms across the country.
In May, Whitbread released a revised network plan strategy for Ireland, which included new target locations for Premier Inn in Dublin city centre as well as four outer-Dublin locations where it is seeking a presence.
Outside of the capital, Whitbread is targeting 11 locations which have strong leisure and business economies, including tourist hotspots such as Killarney, Kilkenny, Kinsale, Sligo, Westport and Tralee, alongside the larger towns and cities of Cork, Galway, Limerick, Waterford and Wexford.
Gent said: “Emma comes with the experience we need take our expansion to the next level in Ireland. She will hit the ground running delivering our secured pipeline of locations and help me and our wider team appraise development opportunities for Premier Inn across Ireland. I’m looking forward to working closely with her as we work to achieve our goal of establishing a network of Premier Inn’s in Ireland that matches the quality and depth of our estate in the UK.”
O’Shiel added: “Whitbread’s flexibility as a development partner stood out when applying for the position. The business has a long track record of delivering its hotels itself or in partnership with private and public sector developers, and I’m excited by the opportunity to put my experience working for both types of organisations into practice in Ireland. Whitbread’s ambitions are set high in Ireland and I can’t wait play a part in supporting the business to achieve its goals.”
