Irish engineering and project management company DPS Group has expanded its US operations with a major investment in Tria, a Boston-based architectural firm with a focus on the science and technology sectors.

DPS chief executive Frank Keogh said the investment "complements perfectly our existing engineering and project management business in New England and North Carolina."

Tria operates in the life science subsection of the R&D sector and this will complementthe existing operations of DPS, whose primary business is in the process manufacturing sector.

Life-science facilities

There has been huge investment in life-science facilities in the New England area, according to Mr Keogh, partly through investment in facilities in educational institutions such as MIT, Harvard and Boston College, but also through major investment in facilities by major global pharmaceutical groups such as Novartis, Pfizer, Genzyme, Sanofi and Shire.

“Our aim is to significantly increase the biotech and science-related business we are doing in New England, both through our existing operations and our investment in Tria,” he said.

DPS has increased its turnover globally to more than €100 million and employment to 1,100. DPS is an architectural and engineering company established in Ireland in 1974. The company has grown substantially in recent years and now employs 1,100 people in Dublin, Cork, Leiden in the Netherlands, Belgium, Singapore, Israel, Albany, Boston and Durham, North Carolina.