When Damien Mc Ardle joined the FM Approvals' Dublin office as a certification manager last April, he discovered he had more in common with his officemate than he expected.
Mc Ardle had heard of his co-worker, FM Approvals Senior Engineer and Certification Manager Richard Zammitt, when Mc Ardle was a customer in his previous position as certification manager for Kingspan, a major producer of insulated walls panels and other building products.
However, what really sealed their bond was their common interest (i.e. fervor) for one of Europe's premier professional football (a.k.a. soccer) clubs, Liverpool. As fate would have it, their favorite team won the 2019 UEFA Champions League Final. "We got along right away just based on that connection alone," says Mc Ardle.
Not only is Mc Ardle interested in the game, he is a longtime player (recently retired from league play) of Gaelic football, playing for the Mullahoran Dreadnoughts. Although a strictly amateur sport, Gaelic football is taken very seriously. Up to 80,000 spectators attend major games held in Dublin's Croke Park.
Mc Ardle worked for Kingspan, headquartered not far from his home in Cavan, Ireland, for more than 15 years. He traveled extensively as a divisional polymer engineer, helping to establish new facilities in countries around the world. He went on to specialize in product R&D and product certifications as Kingspan's certification manager.
Mc Ardle earned a Bachelor of Science degree in polymer technology from Athlone Institute of Technology and a Master of Science degree in project management from the University of Aberdeen.
Even before joining the company, Mc Ardle was already very familiar with many of FM Approvals standards for building products.
"As Kingspan certification manager I was the main contact for FM Approvals," he relates. "I dealt with all of the certification organizations around the world, and there are many of them. FM Approvals was the only one that was truly global, and was the first certification we sought for our new products or when opening a new plant or new location."
He adds, "As much as I already knew about certain aspects of FM Approvals, there is even more that I don't know about. I was not involved previously in the worlds of electrical or fire protection certifications—those are new spaces that I'm still learning. I look forward to continuing my education and contributing more and more over time."