Profile: Andrew Kirke, Partner at Tughans

Andrew Kirke is a Partner in Tughans’ commercial team, advising clients across commercial and regulatory matters, with a particular focus on the energy, technology and clean tech sectors. He is qualified across the UK and Ireland and regularly advises clients on a range of  matters including technology contracts, software licence agreements, power purchase agreements, grid connection agreements or similar commercial arrangements. He joined Tughans around 15 years ago, after working offshore as a corporate finance lawyer, chairs the CBI Energy Working Group for Northern Ireland, is a member of Mutual Energy, and has twice been seconded to SONI Limited, the transmission system operator for Northern Ireland.

What is the biggest competitiveness challenge facing organisations right now?

There’s no single answer that applies neatly to every sector, as every business faces different challenges, but looking through an energy and industrial lens, some particular challenges right now are high localised costs in a global marketplace, particularly high energy costs and labour costs, leading to a global competitiveness problem particularly in the manufacturing space.

Manufacturers are being asked to invest for the long term while operating under significant short-term pressure. A joint report from Make UK and Ecotricity published this week found that industrial electricity costs are now threatening investment, competitiveness and in some cases, the survival of British factories, with13% of manufacturers warning further price shocks could be terminal for their operations. UK and Ireland industrial electricity prices have been identified as among the highest in Europe and the G7, even after exemptions and compensation schemes are taken into account.

In Ireland, SEAI data for the first half of 2025 put average business electricity prices at 24.27 cent per kWh, compared with 17.87 cent per kWh for the EU-27. That differential matters when boards are deciding where to invest, where to expand and where to automate. The coupled pressure point is increasing labour costs and pressures to automate (which requires increased electricity consumption and CAPEX). Deployment of robotics in the manufacturing space is accelerating, with one report saying that Asia accounts for 74% of new deployments whereas Make UK ranks the UK as 24th in global robotics density.

What are high-performing organisations doing differently?

Whilst very much being a professional advisor looking at this from the outside in terms of this particular issue, it seems that high-performing organisations are treating energy, technology and operational performance as one conversation and a key strategic conversation.

We see a number of companies doing interesting behind the meter projects, as well as implementing extremely efficiency measures based on very granular data around things like half-hourly consumption, peak demand, production scheduling, heat requirements and avoidable waste. The same discipline applies to automation. There are a few companies in Northern Ireland identifying repeatable, labour-intensive processes, and testing whether automation improves margins and scalability.

Where should leaders focus over the next 12 to 24 months?

Developing a short, prioritised capex roadmap looking at which investments protect competitiveness over the next five to ten years.

Projects with longer payback might still be the right decision if businesses are reducing exposure to volatile wholesale pricing, addressing workforce constraints or creating capacity for growth or scaling output. I see those organisations connecting energy strategy, operational improvement and global competitiveness as hopefully surviving and thriving through what are no doubt going to be more turbulent years for the manufacturing sector here.

I see that as being an area where the Centre for Competitiveness can really assist.