Hiring of architects at odds with policy

NEARLY a third of local authorities have no architectural staff despite a government commitment to promote architectural quality in the planning process, it was claimed yesterday.

A report from the City and County Architects’ Association, in co-operation with the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland, found that of the country’s 34 local authorities:

10 have no architecture posts, including Laois, Leitrim, Limerick, Longford, Meath, Monaghan, Roscommon, Tipperary North, Tipperary South and Waterford.

A further eight local authorities employ only one architect on their staff.

Less than half (16 out of 34) of the local authorities have the minimum number of two architects, as recommended by the institute and the association.

Speaking at the launch of the report, institute president, Seán Ó Laoire, said, “In 2002, the Government published its policy document, Action on Architecture 2002-2005, which set out a total of 29 actions to be achieved within the lifetime of the plan.

“Among these was Action 28, which committed government to promoting the development of in-house architectural expertise in order to promote architectural quality in the planning process and to make this expertise available to policy forming groups and decision makers,” he said.

Mr Ó Laoire said despite that commitment, levels of staffing in local authority architectural departments varied from 52 architects in the largest authorities, to one in smaller authorities.

“There is little correlation between the size of the local authority, the level of architectural resource in the authority and reporting procedures. Indeed, out of 34 local authorities, 10 authorities employ no architects and a further eight only employ one,” he said.

Mr Ó Laoire said the countrywide inconsistency was not good practice and was a factor contributing to uneven quality in the built environment.

“All local authorities are competing at a national and international level for development and investment at a time when the built environment is becoming more complex. Local authorities need to create attractive

environments, in which people choose to live and work, measured by innovation, quality of design and the delivery of cohesive sustainable communities.”

Among the recommendations are that there should be parity of seniority with colleagues in the planning and works departments and the minimum number of architects in all local authorities should be two.