Harry Crosbie Accepts Lifetime Achievement Award

The third annual Docklands Business Awards was a fantastic night, celebrating Dublin’s Dockland business community at the Gibson Hotel on Thursday, 28th November. There were 32 shortlisted nominees in ten categories as well the Docklands’ Lifetime Achievement Award which was presented for the first time. The list of organisations represented on the night read like a who’s who of Dublin’s premier business hub. Accenture, Facebook, the Marker Hotel, State Street, Citi bank, A & L Goodbody, Beauchamps, Waterways Ireland, Dillon Eustace, the National College of Ireland, AIB IFSC Branch and the Dublin Port Company to name a few. These enterprises lead the big organisation pack across many of the Awards.

Award Winners | Docklands Business Awards 2013

Hot on the heels of these multi-national corporations were the SMEs; Darmody Architects, IDEA, Johnny McElhinney & Co., Mail Boxes Etc, DCH Partners, Realex Payments, Dublin South East Training Centre, Dublin City Enterprise Board, Owen Reilly Property Consultants, Herb Street, Café Parigi, Core Media, Sense of Skin, Smart Wall Paint, and OptiWiFi.

Our friends in the Docklands hospitality sector were also well represented with the Gibson Hotel, Ely Bar & Brassiere IFSC, the Maldron Hotel, and the Marker Hotel Grand Canal Plaza. All nominees were in contention to take back to the office some of our city’s most unique, and reasonably priced, crystal ware.

Phil Hogan

The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Phil Hogan T.D., was the guest speaker on the night. Managing Director of IDEA and Chairman of the Docklands Business Fourm, Ciaran Flanagan, and Corporate Social Responsibility Manager for A & L Goodbody, Sinead Smith, presented the awards in a lively tag team effort.

The Gibson gave flawless service with the buffet. The wine was flowing thanks to our friends at Mitchell & Son in CHQ. The rattle and hum of the meal peacefully died down as the ceremony resumed with the launch of the Docklands Business Forum Directory. Nicholas Cloake, Directory Editor explained that this Directory provides a window in time that illustrates, in a single document, the breath of the Docklands Business Forum’s commitment to the area and its ambitions for the same.  It provides a comprehensive account of the activities of the Forum, a listing of its members, articles of interest to those living and working in the Docklands and a wider listing of businesses in the area. ‘CONNECTIONS’, as the Directory is so aptly named, is a symbol of the recent efforts of the Forum to improve communication to both its members, Docklands stakeholders, and the wiser business community.

The first Docklands Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to the creator of the Docklands himself, Harry Crosbie. With the construction of the Bord Gais Energy Theatre and the O2 arena to name a few, Harry Crosbie has transformed the Docklands from a veritable wasteland to a vibrant urban quarter with over 600 enterprises and 40,000 employees. The organisers awarded Mr. Crosbie with such an award for his work as both an advocate of urban regeneration and visionary entrepreneur Harry Crosbie has made a most significant contribution to this remarkable transformation. His achievements are enduring and will long outlive the current tide.

The guests were on their feet when Crosbie made his way to the podium to accept the award, he proclaimed there is more work to be done, more residential buildings to be completed and more jobs to be created so that Docklands will achieve its mission to be the number one area to live and work in Europe.

Harry Crosbie, accepts Lifetime Achievement Award at the third annual Docklands Business Awards Ceremony, 2013