There are now 10 Irish building engineering jobs to every graduate - and they are earning €5,000 more than their peers at the start of their careers.

A typical starting salary is €32,000 for a building engineering graduate working with a contracting firm, compared to €27,000 for a civil or structural engineer in a design firm, with wages rising to €90,000 with experience.

Dublin Institute of Technology estimates there are now 10 jobs to every graduate and building engineers are in the top three roles most sought by employers this year, according to the Hays Salary Guide.

There are more than 100 building engineering jobs up for grabs on Irishjobs.ie yet numbers are down on the building engineering course intake for the last four years at DIT.

A building engineer must ensure that a building's systems, including heating, ventilation, air-conditioning, refrigeration, water supply, fire protection, lighting and data communication, work in an energy-efficient way.

Ciara Ahern, head of building engineering at DIT, claimed that building engineering is at "the vanguard of a new engineering revolution" that is key to meeting global climate change targets.

Ms Ahern encouraged women to think of the profession as an option. Big industry players and Dublin Institute of Technology have launched a campaign as CAO applications are due to close on February 1. They include Jones Engineering, Sirus, Ethos, Varmings, Axis, Dornan, OCSC, Metec, Homan O'Brien, and Cundall and Partners.

Irish Independent