Town Centre Living Architectural Design competition launched in Roscrea

Photo Caption: Charlotte Sheridan, RIAI President, and Darragh O’Brien, Minister of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, are joined by Liam Ryan, Senior Executive Architect Tipperary County Council, at the launch of the Town Centre Living Architectural Design Competitions. The architectural competitions for four towns seek innovative design solutions for creating high-quality homes in town-centre locations. Picture by Keith Arkins Media

The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien, and the President of The Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland, Charlotte Sheridan have launched the Town Centre Living Architectural Design Competitions.

The competitions are for the design of four social housing schemes across Ireland, with one competition for a town centre site in Roscrea.

The winning architectural practice for each competition will, in addition to prize money, be awarded the design commission for the project.

The project will be progressed by Tipperary County Council as a live project funded by DHLGH, through to construction and delivery. Launching the competitions, Minister O’Brien said:

“I’m delighted to launch these housing competitions today which will promote high-quality social housing design in Roscrea and support the Government’s Town Centre First approach, which strives to make our town centres vibrant places in which to live, work and visit, with increased housing at the heart of that offering.

“Promoting town centre living close to existing infrastructure and services supports our national action endeavours against climate change.

“ I want to thank all in my department, the RIAI and the local authorities for organising these competitions and I encourage architectural practices across the country to compete and submit exciting new ideas for the design of social housing in Roscrea.”

The aim is to encourage innovative design for social housing within town centres and progress the Government’s Town Centre First policy’s objectives of compact growth and town-centre revitalisation.

The competitions also seek to encourage more architectural firms to compete for social housing design projects.

The President of The Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland, Charlotte Sheridan, said: “The RIAI are pleased to be working with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to deliver the Town Centre Living Competitions with four town-centre sites to be developed around the country.

“We know that competitions are excellent for fostering innovation and identifying real-world solutions which can deliver tangible change. Architectural competitions are a demonstration of the profession’s commitment to innovation and are assessed on design quality.

Ireland’s new National Policy on Architecture, Places for People, further highlights the important role that Architectural Design Competitions play in setting a quality agenda for our built environment.”

The four town-centre sites were selected following an open invitation to local authorities. The winners of the competitions are expected to be announced during Quarter 2 2023.

The Jury for the Town Centre Living Competitions will be:
Roscrea
Orla Murphy MRIAI (Chair)
John Martin FRIAI Architect Advisor DHLGH
Liam Ryan MRIAI Senior Executive Architect Tipperary County Council