The Government is set to announce a massive, €100 billion, ten year capital investment plan in the coming week which will be very welcome news to Architects and Engineers involved in the construction and infrastructure industries.

The plan will see Ireland’s long awaited investment in rail, roads, broadband, hospitals, universities and housing, which have lagged behind for the several years during the downturn in the economy. There will be a significant demand for Architects, Architectural Technologists, Civil Engineers, Structural Engineers, Project Managers, and Quantity Surveyors to name a few, in the immediate future to implement the major developments envisaged by the NPF.

Constraints to returning home.

There is a growing awareness in Government of the perceived obstacles to returning home such as availability of housing, mortgage lending, and schooling.

Bank of Ireland has now agreed to look at a potential borrower’s experience and employment history, thus removing the typical six-month probation period prior to consideration for a mortgage. In addition, crèche costs are significantly lower than in the UK and elsewhere, due to the Government’s subsidy programme for crèche placement. It is expected that 2018 will see a massive increase in the supply of housing units to rent and to purchase. All lending institutions have signalled a massive increase in the provision of funds for the housing sector in 2018, and the following years.

Housing output.

On a positive note, figures published in the past few days show that dwelling transactions were up 27% compared to the same period last year. The government ‘Help to Buy’ scheme for first time buyers, is having a positive impact, while the average value of new homes in Dublin has shown an increase of just 1% in the first nine months of 2017.  Close to 37,000 units have been built, or are coming on stream early in the new year, according to the published figures.

If you are considering a career move and wish to discuss the current opportunities within Architecture, Engineering, Quantity Surveying and Construction, please contact c.herlihy@gpcireland.com or call Caroline on + 353 86 8055216.

 

Andrew McDowell, vice president of the European Investment Bank (EIB) while speaking at a conference of investment in European infrastructure recently, highlighted the issue of further significant investment in Ports, Airports and Roads, as previously mentioned in these columns.

Increase in investment

A very large increase in investment will require many Civil and Structural Engineers to design and supervise the construction of these facilities in the future. McDowell urged an immediate upsurge in planning for the provision of infrastructure to avoid the long – term consequences of inertia on growth. With the advent of Brexit, the emphasis will be for the East and South East regions of the Republic to reflect the major re-direction of traffic of all modes, from the current routes through the North of the island.

Demand for Civil & Structural Engineers

Currently, the EIB has set aside €400 million for investment in social housing.  Significant additional funds are available for infrastructure investment as indicated. Projects such as the completion of the M11, major upgrade of Rosslare and Waterford ports, and the upgrade of the N25 from Rosslare to Cork to Motorway standard, are but a few of the projects being considered. These will require a significant increase in Civil Engineers, Structural Engineers, as well as Project Managers and Civil Engineering Contractors. With the existing skills shortages, we will surely need to source staff from overseas to meet the demand.

If you are considering a career move and wish to discuss the current opportunities within Architecture, Engineering, Quantity Surveying and Construction, please contact c.herlihy@gpcireland.com or call Caroline on + 353 86 8055216.

Irish Universities UCD and UCC have recently announced major investments in their development programmes in the short term.

UCD is seeking Fast Track Planning permission for a new, 3000 Student bed accommodation development on Campus from An Bord Pleanala. This is the first application to use the new Strategic Housing Development system which allows applications for schemes of more than 100 homes or 200 student bed spaces to be made directly to An Bord Pleanala, by passing thee local authority decision phase. This will come as good news to Architects, Engineers and Construction Professionals, who are frustrated with the traditional bureaucratic process which can mean an inordinate time lapse before planning is granted. An Bord Pleanala will have until the middle of January in 2018 to make a decision on the application, a major reduction in the potential time for a similar application going through the traditional system.  This will double the amount of bed spaces within the Campus, but still only equates to 25% of the requirement once the apartments are built.

UCC has just announced a €240 million development programme with €100 million grant from EIB (European Investment Bank) to fund the developments. These include Student housing, a Dental School, Science and Innovation Park in the Western Campus, a Student Hub, and Research facilities for a number of speciality subjects.  Architects and Engineers are required to see these projects through to completion.

In addition, Trinity College has very ambitious plans for further major developments including student apartments on Campus. Currently, major development is being carried out along the Pearse Street boundary of the Campus. However, further significant State funding is required to accelerate the completion of these very ambitious, but necessary, development programmes.

 

If you are considering a career move and wish to discuss the current opportunities within Architecture, Engineering, Quantity Surveying and Construction, please contact c.herlihy@gpcireland.com or call Caroline on + 353 86 8055216.

 

The Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland have recently published a report highlighting the inordinate delays in the planning process and in the provision of essential services for housing projects. Architects and Engineers when interviewed, pointed out that the Planning Authorities are seriously deficient in staffing levels both in Town Planners, Engineers and Architects. Principals in Architectural practices and Engineering consultancies also highlighted delays in adopting LAP’s (Local Area Plans) or County Development Plans (CDP’s) as other contributory factors.

Demand for Architects & Engineers

At present there is an unprecedented demand for Architects, Civil & Structural Engineers and Building Services Design Engineers across all sectors of the Construction industry. There is an enormous shortage in the supply of residential units of all categories which is only driving up the price of housing units.

Shortage of Apartments

At a recent address to the Dublin Economics Workshop, Dr. Ronan Lyons, economist and lecturer in Trinity College highlighted the need for one and two bedroomed apartments in Ireland. Ireland has a mere 10% of its housing stock in such unit sizes, compared to 30-40% throughout countries in Europe.  He estimated that Ireland has about 500,000 fewer apartments than it should have right now for the size of its population, and that the apartment shortage is the single biggest factor driving the current crisis.

If you are considering a career move and wish to discuss the current opportunities within Architecture, Engineering, Quantity Surveying and Construction, please contact c.herlihy@gpcireland.com or call Caroline on + 353 86 8055216.

The Construction industry is showing no signs of slowing down in the first half of 2017. Architects and Engineers are noticing an increase in the construction costs over the same period last year.

Chartered Surveyors have noticed an increase in construction tender prices of 2.6% in the first half of 2017 and are predicting a further average rise throughout the country of 3.6% for the next six months, marking an overall increase of 6.2% for the year 2017. This follows an increase of 6.3% in 2016. If this increase continues until the end of 2017 it will bring prices back to where they were in 2004.

Architects and Engineers say that the increased level of construction activity is driving the labour costs upwards due to a shortage of resources across a number of trades for both main and sub – contractors. Looking forward, increased pressure for wage increases will drive construction costs higher. The expected continuing surge in construction in all sectors, particularly residential, can only exacerbate this upward trend.

If you are considering a career move and wish to discuss the current opportunities within Architecture, Engineering, Quantity Surveying and Construction, please contact c.herlihy@gpcireland.com or call Caroline on + 353 86 8055216.

It now appears that the Government has finally woken up to the need to make major decisions relating to the eventuality of a hard Brexit decision, and the consequent impact such an outcome will have for the Irish economy, and our need to access continental markets hitherto accessed through the Northern Ireland ports and infrastructure.

Hard Brexit impact on roads & ports

In the event of hard Border controls being introduced, all the road and other freight traffic will need to be redirected to the existing ports in the south and south east of the country.  Civil Engineering infrastructure projects such as the construction of expansion to the ports of Rosslare, Waterford and Cork will be required as a matter of urgency, as well as the construction of major infrastructure projects such as the extension of the M11 to Rosslare; the construction of the much awaited motorway from Cork to Limerick; and the upgrading of the N25 from Rosslare to Cork.

Civil Engineers

Civil Engineers with road and harbour construction expertise will be in greater demand in the very near future for these projects, as it is anticipated that the Government will make provision for these and other civil engineering projects in the budget statement in the coming months.  With the existing acute skills shortage across the engineering and construction industry, this will result in a large increase in recruitment from all over Europe and outside of Europe to meet the recruitment needs.

 

If you are considering a move back to Ireland and wish to discuss the current opportunities within the Architecture, Engineering, Quantity Surveying and Construction industries, please contact c.herlihy@gpcireland.com or call Caroline on + 353 86 8055216.

 

The Irish Government has finally given effect to the commitment made under the Rebuild Ireland initiative which was first tabled in July 2015, to establish a system which will enable large scale for Housing related developments to be submitted directly to An Bord Pleanala. The previous system designated the Local Authority as being the first Authority of referral for planning applications. The legislation came into effect on July 1^st, under the guise of the Strategic Housing Development system, and will come as a great incentive to developers and construction professionals who have hitherto felt that the planning system had become unwieldy and time consuming.

Architects

Architects seeking planning permission can now apply directly to An Bord Pleanala, and the board will be required to hold pre planning consultations with construction professionals and developers, and with the relevant Local Authority during a nine week period from the initial notification.  The way will then be clear for the construction professionals to submit a formal planning application thereafter, and the board will then have up to sixteen weeks to determine the application.

Large scale development

The legislation covers applications over 100 dwellings and it is hoped several large scale developments will be “fast tracked” through the system before the end of the current year. The fast track system will be in place for the next three years with an option to extend it for a further two years. This will come as very good news to Architects, Planners and Civil Engineering consultants and to their construction industry colleagues.

If you are considering a move back to Ireland and wish to discuss the current opportunities within the Architecture, Engineering, Quantity Surveying and Construction industries, please contact c.herlihy@gpcireland.com or call Caroline on + 353 86 8055216.

 

Recent developments in the construction industry in Ireland has shown a marked increase by Private and Institutional investors in the provision of housing both for Build –to-Rent and Affordable Housing. Current estimates indicate that there is between €2 billion and €3 billion in institutional capital looking at the build-to-rent sector in Ireland, according to Tim Mac Mahon, director of development and residential capital markets at CBRE in Ireland.

The appetite for build-to-rent product is well established in both Germany and the United States. There is every indication that the sector is gathering pace here very quickly, but the major limiting factor effecting the rate of expansion in Ireland is the lack of current stock of land either on the market or available in large tracts. It seems developers are now prepared to look at medium to small scale projects just to get into the lucrative rental market which has outperformed other sectors in recent years.

Traditionally, Irish people will aspire to home ownership, but the increasing costs of home ownership and the requirement for a substantial deposit, which will delay this aspiration means that the build-to-rent sector will expand exponentially in the medium term.

The Irish Government has recognised the need to be supportive of the delivery of large scale, purpose built accommodation to service the rental sector, and the alternative investment sector represents a great opportunity to contribute to easing the chronic undersupply of housing in the Irish market.

 

If you are considering a move back to Ireland and wish to discuss the current opportunities within the Architecture, Engineering, Quantity Surveying and Construction industries, please contact c.herlihy@gpcireland.com or call Caroline on + 353 86 8055216.