Objections and delays are causing too much uncertainty for applicants, the architect says
That is according to Hugh Wallace, a judge on RTÉ’s popular Home Of The Year show, who revealed that potential investors here have walked away from projects due to the planning system.
“When you are dealing with overseas clients and you tell them it might take two years to get planning and they ask ‘Is that certain?’ and you say ‘No’, some of them say ‘That’s fine, we won’t go ahead with it’,” Mr Wallace said.
“People want a level of certainty and I don’t believe that is unreasonable. Ireland is losing investment and these would be large projects and projects where employment is involved.
“I am not suggesting a free-for-all, but when a council says an area is designated for a particular use such as industrial or employment use, the planning process only causes delays.
“It is very difficult to explain to someone after two years that they didn’t get planning.”
I am not suggesting a free-for-all
Mr Wallace said third-party objectors should not be allowed to object to developments provided the developments complied with council development plans.
“After a development plan is adopted and you build in accordance with the development plan… third parties should not be able to object at that stage. They should have their say at development plan stage,” he said.
“If someone decides to lodge plans for a building not in accordance with the development plan then they should be able to object.”
Asked for his view on one-off houses, the architect said: “That’s just a no-no. That is not sustainable. Anyway, there are 90,000 abandoned houses in the country. Should they not be focused on the 90,000?”
Mr Wallace made his remarks when asked to comment on recently filed accounts for his firm, Douglas Wallace Consultants Ltd, which show that post-tax profits more than doubled to €166,678 in the 12 months to the end of June last year. The firm’s accumulated profits totalled €583,151.
He said business has been strong this year and he was projecting a modest 7pc rise in revenues following a sharper post-Covid 19 rise last year.
We are very lucky to have around 10 core clients
Mr Wallace said he remained upbeat on the business’s prospects despite the sharp contraction in the commercial and office market.
“We are very lucky to have around 10 core clients – the likes of Dunnes Stores, Dalata, Harcourt Developments and Peter Mark – who have been with us for 40 years,” he said.
Mr Wallace’s firm is the lead designer for “a very exciting” mixed-use development for Harcourt Developments for Waterford that has recently been lodged.
He said architectural firms “that were doing a lot in commercial/office projects, they will be under pressure”.
Architecture firms were the first to be hit in the building industry when there was any slowdown, he said.
