Architects signal alarm on housing

The Royal Institute of Architects in Ireland (RIAI) has questioned the ability of local authorities to deliver on the targets contained in the National Development Plan - particularly the development of sustainable housing.

The comments of the incoming RIAI president, Mr Arthur Hickey, follow recent concern that the £4.7 billion national road-building programme is beyond the ability of the State within the seven-year timeframe.

In his incoming address, Mr Hickey said the Republic was heading for major social and environmental problems unless changes were made to the way buildings - particularly new housing developments - were planned. He said staffing levels in architectural and planning departments of local authorities were inadequate to meet the challenges of the £40 billion national plan. Unless there was change in the "patterns of housing developments which are creating unsustainable communities", efforts to solve the housing crisis would result in "massive" environmental and social problems, he said.

Stressing the RIAI's concern for quality, Mr Hickey said severe damage might be done because of the urgency to deliver on the plan's targets, "if the plan is implemented in too much of a hurry, without effective quality control measures".

Stressing the need for quality of design and planning, he said, "frankly, it is not socially sustainable for young families to commute for several hours a day".

Mr Hickey asked how, in the context of "this massive and unprecedented scale of development, are we going to realise the plan's stated ambition that, `all buildings benefiting from capital support will be designed and constructed not simply to meet the minimum statutory requirements in regard to planning and the environment and the principles of sustainable development' ".

He said "at the moment the planning and other systems are finding it impossible to cope with the current volume of work. How is it going to deal with an even greater amount?"

As part of the solution, local authorities should consider using architectural consultancy services and should look at bringing back retired staff part time, he said. The National Roads Plan, which effectively telescopes the 20-year time-scale for the Roads Needs Study into the seven years between 2000 and 2006, has also been the subject of debate.

The Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, has said the Construction Industry Federation has assured him it has the capacity to carry out the programme. But commentators are sceptical that the National Roads Authority and local authorities can get the ambitious programmes designed and through the planning process in time to ensure the programme's success.