Dermot Bannon: 'I'm jealous of Cork people, I’d love an English Market in Dublin'
Dermot Bannon: due to hit Cork for a Room to Improve Q&A. Photograph Moya Nolan
“I was shitting it,” says Dermot Bannon.
The architect may seem like a seasoned professional on television, but his acting skills leave a lot to be desired.
Harsh? Maybe — but as his former co-star in a Vodafone ad, I feel it my civic duty to remind him how many times he had to re-shoot the first line: 88. Pity I wasn’t being paid by the hour.
“It wasn’t just me,” he protests.
“It was everybody else as well. They kept tweaking the line. If you’d told me at the beginning it was going to take 90 takes, I would have said: ‘Sure, don’t fucking worry about it, you’ll have learned them by then.’”
When it comes to houses, however, Bannon can talk for days. Catch him in action hosting the RNLI charity lunch alongside designer Suzie McAdam, July 19, as part of Volvo Cork Week.
“We’re going to do a behind the scenes, answering questions about Room to Improve, what not to do, the biggest mistakes people have made. It’s not just informational, we’re going to bring a bit of humour to it.”
Growing up near the sea in Malahide, Dublin, Bannon loved sailing from a young age.
“We didn’t own a boat because my mum and dad were afraid of the water, but I had enough friends with boats that I’d always hitch a lift somewhere.
“That was the best of both worlds, because you’d get out into the sea without having to do the maintenance. People who loved boats actually spent just as much time sanding, varnishing, and polishing them.”
As an ambassador with Volvo for over 10 years, being involved with Volvo Cork Week was a no-brainer for Bannon who — unlike his parents — was a “water baby”.
“I was a sea scout. My teenage years were spent rowing on the estuary and now, when I can’t get out on a boat, I’ll sea swim.
“I hate telling people that because, you know, how do you know somebody who swims in the sea? They’ll tell you.”
When Bannon was seven, his family moved to Cairo and lived in a complex with a shared swimming pool.
He quickly realised the easiest way to escape his mum and dad was to hop in the pool.
“If you wanted to run away from your mum and dad, there’s no way they could catch you if you were in the pool.
“Eventually, we became really strong swimmers.”
Sea safety is something very close to Bannon’s heart, and another reason why he wants to be involved in Cork Week.
“Unfortunately, where I grew up, the tides are fairly strong and there was always a helicopter in and boats out. I’ve seen rescues in action when somebody has been plucked out of the water and they’re alive.
“If there’s an accident in the sea, your whole life can be flipped in a heartbeat. We are really lucky with the RNLI, so if you can support them do.”
It has been five years since Bannon was at Volvo Cork Week, but he is in Cork all the time as a good friend of his lives in a beautiful Victorian house in St Luke’s.
Does he have a favourite building in Cork?
“I love the Glucksman, because it’s a great piece of architecture on so many levels. It’s built on a limestone base.
“It’s an art gallery in a tree house up on stilts. It was built by two of the world’s leading architects [O’Donnell + Tuomey], and they’re designing the [pleated facade at] the Victoria and
Albert museum in London.”
He has another favourite building in Cork, but for a very different reason.
I’m jealous of Cork people. I hate saying this because Cork people would love you to be jealous of them, but it’s a real asset to Cork city.”
Every time he films for The Today Show, he walks over to browse and comes back with way more than he needs.
“Every time I’m in Cork, I buy my lunch there. I always buy smoked salmon. I’m one of these impulse buyers. I got to shuck oysters with the guy who met the queen [Pat O’Connell].
“I’m a bit of a foodie. I love wandering the English market. I’d love if they had one in Dublin.”
Something that sets younger homeowners apart from their older counterparts is a new-found self-assurance.
“Compared to my generation, young people have a lot more confidence in design and style,” Bannon adds.
While neutral tones and minimalism reigned supreme in the world of interior design for a long time, that is changing, he says.
“The next big trend people are going to embrace is colour — a bit more fun. What I see with people coming into the office, they’re doing their own thing and designing things a little bit different with shapes and materials.”
Apartment living has influenced design too, he says.
“People’s homes are smaller, and they’re experimenting more. Things like handles on kitchen cabinets are being placed like jewellery — it’s a lot more playful.”
As far as TV shows, Bannon is not a fan of the Oppenheim Group.
“I watched two episodes of Selling Sunset, and I’m still regretting those two hours of my life. The buildings are just about money and they’re just crass.”
But isn’t Bannon famous for going over budget? Maybe, but the reason is quality and not money for the sake of money — like we see in the Netflix reality show.
“It’s all about how much everything costs, and horrible people who just want to be famous.”
There is one show he likes, namely The Parisian Agency.
“They’re not obnoxious bastards. It’s all about good architecture. In a world where there’s a big divide between the haves and the have nots, I see somebody spending €40m and I feel that there’s something gone wrong.”
Buying or renovating a home is stressful enough for clients, he says, without having to add in extra tension for the sake of the cameras.
“I’m not going to put in drama where it’s not needed — or ham it up. There’s enough stress. We don’t need any of that rubbish.”
Working in television for over 18 years, Bannon sees right through the people who are in it for the sake of racking up social media likes.
“It’s like when people want to become famous for Love Island, you can spot them immediately. I’m old and I’m probably bitter and twisted about the whole thing, but why would you do that? The best TV is the stuff that’s real, that has real emotion.”
Being a TV architect means quicker turnarounds and smaller budgets, but he loves the challenge.
“We tend to have around 300k which when you renovate, retrofit, and put in underfloor heating is not actually a huge budget in this day and age.
“I don’t believe that you need to spend an awful lot of money to get good design.”
High-end design often uses tricks of the trade that can also be applied with smaller budgets, Bannon adds.
“In kitchens, they placed all of the cupboards that are the same size beside each other.
“They’ll get nice lines running through it, that’s easy to do. It’s just like doing a jigsaw puzzle.”
One residential project conjures fond memories for Bannon – Susie and David’s 170-year-old three-storey house.
“It was such a cool site, up on the side of a hill in an old Victorian house, looking down into Fermoy. It was one of the biggest projects we ever did on Room to Improve. It took two years from start to finish, but it turned out really nice and they were just brilliant.”
It’s not long until my favourite conversation topic of food crops up, and Bannon is very excited to try some new restaurants in Cork — especially Goldie. What was that he said about Cork, again?
- Volvo Cork Week 2024 runs from July 15-19.
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