singlefarmer
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@Frank Taylor wrote:
80% of one-off planning applications are approved.
In many cases because of numerous pre-planning meeting and or a number of further information requests which this statistic above does not reflect
I think that it is worth looking at the reasons so many people choose to build houses without the assistance of architects. An increased input from architects should lead to an improvement in rural house design. I have recently hired an architect to design my one off rural house and I am hopeful that he will help me build a good home that enhances my quality of life, is sustainable and respects its environment. It was hard work! I talked to a number of Architects before choosing one;
I was amazed how many practices had no website. In this day and age almost every business bar your local corner shop has a website. I found it hard to believe that so many highly trained, computer literate profssionals providing a high cost service didn’t bother to advertise their work/business.
A number of architects didn’t bother to return my initial enquiries.
A number of architects who had done one off housing in the past said that they now didn’t have the time for such designs.. a result of the Celtic Tiger growth I guess
Some of the architects I met were excellent talkers but very poor listeners
The build costs suggested by a number of the architects were totally at odds with the typical house bulid costs in my area. I felt that this lack of knowledge would cost me when it the time came to tender for the build. Some local builders I know have dollar signs in their eyes at the mention of an architect.
Some if the architects were all in favour of under floor heating, solar power etc. as i am myself, but many of them were a lot quieter when I mentioned u values and returns on investment for these types of energy
I suggested the possibility of engaging an architect to design the house but not be involved in the build tendering process and the build itself to reduce my costs. Three architects refused to consider this option.
Of course these are all personal observations of a small sample, i do not wish to generalise.
Having looked at the very restrictive planning guidelines in place in Co. Clare I can see why many people choose not to hire an architect. A one and a half storey house with a stone porch will get planning permission nine times out of ten, going down the road of innovative design can lead to expense and headaches that your average home builder can do without.
Obviously it’s up to architects to run their business as they see fit but I think it would be of great benefit to the rural environment if architects were to come up with creative solutions for rural house builders and were more proactive in selling their services. If you are sick you go to a doctor, if you need legal advice you go to a solicitor, roll on the day when a person building a house automatically goes to an arcitect.
Jeez guys, this is a forum!!! noun A public meeting place for open discussion
i think all the talk about being infiltrated and the IRDA is a little paranoid. I’m one of those one -off posters you mentioned and I had no motive other than to have a discussion. The words architect and Ireland bring up this site on page one of Google.
Would it ever occur to you that people just come on here for advice unaware of the general distain for one-off housing among some of the members. One off housing isn’t exactly new in Ireland and despite contrary opinion and possible damage to our environment will most likely continue. Not all one off house builders are oblivious to their responsibilities to their surroundings and communities. If someone comes on here with plans for the home they want to build, live their life in and raise their family in, it might be better if forum members were to point out possible improvements/alternatives rather than being scathing and belittling as occured on a recent, now deleted, thread.
I find all the glib mentions of McMansions trite and tiresome, perhaps architects should spend more time discussing whether it is a failure of their profession or their communication skills that so many Irish Home builders choose to build without architects, not that architects are incapable of producing monstrous designs themselves.
Really interesting points PDLL, I still think bungalows are generally fairly ugly. I agree totally with your point about them being representative of the economic environment.
But in these more prosperous times the plain no-frills bungalow has been replaced (in the part of Clare I’m talking about anyway) by larger dormer types that are just as ugly and have a greater visual impact than there predecessors. If you take a look at new one off houses on an auctioneers website in my area you won’t see a new house with less than four bedrooms, most in fact will have five or six. This of course is at a time when people are marrying later and having less kids.
Why is this? Big is better? Good luck to people who want this, but Clare County Council have a responsibility to encourage ‘good’ development. I don’t agree that one off rural housing needs to be invisible, I think that it should compliment its environment, use local styles but at the same time be fresh. I think Clare Co C have in fact fostered poor and unimaginative architecture in the county by their policies.
The Council already have a Rural Design Guide, the new guide is being published in reponse to accurate criticism that the old guide consisted almost entirely of the one dimensional Cottage-Style-With-Stone-Porch-And-Stone-Wall mixed in with some cut and paste from the Cork Design Guide. I would seriously question the view that building one and a half storey boxes with a porch and front wall covered with industrially quarried stone typifies vernacular architecture. In my area there are very few old houses with a porch, fewer still that do not have a render on the exterior walls. In addition to this, the efforts involved in getting planning permission for anything other than this style means that most people building in West Clare don’t even try anything different. It’s much easier to go to the local lad who can draw up the plans and apply for permission for around 3k, that will give you plenty of cash to add the sun room in a couple of year time.Ryan, thanks for the PM, I’ll give you a shout soon.
@shadow wrote:
Architects have been known to travel.
Fair enough Shadow, but I’m already on a pretty tight budget so I figured a local architect would probably prove a more economical option.
