Category: Featured (Page 3 of 5)

Isabel Barros Architects Celebrates 10th Anniversary

May 6, 2020 / barros / 0 Comments

This year Isabel Barros Architects celebrates a decade of presence in the Wexford landscape. We setup in the height of the recession in 2010 and 10 years later we are now faced with the Covid-19 Pandemic and the prospects of a global recession. But we have built amazing resilience skills and we feel strong enough to continue for (at least) another 10 years.

We want to thank all our clients, consultants, contractors and suppliers for trusting us and helping us to create positive contributions while building great relationships.

The privilege of working with clients that trust us, respect our ideas, and let us push the limits when needed is immense and we are eternally grateful for this.

We are committed to the highest level of quality in all things and we will continue raising the bar every day.

Isabel’s 25 years of experience will continue to be an invaluable resource to deliver solid results.

During these last 10 years we have built the foundations for our future. As we enter our next decade, we will remain focused on the long term. That means removing the ineffective parts of our work, and aiming on what matters most so that we can do the work we love doing to the highest standard. We also plan to extend to different sectors but only if our core values can be pursued and respected.

We hope you enjoy the journey and that you’ll keep in touch along the way.

Feel free to contact us regarding any enquiry you may have:

office@isabelbarrosarchitects.ie

Tel. +353 (0) 53 91 689 42

Irish Architects Declare Climate & Biodiversity Emergency

January 28, 2020 / barros / 0 Comments

Climate change is a serious global issue. The use of fossil fuels as our main source of energy generation is largely contributing to the problem. Human activity is releasing billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions into the earth’s atmosphere and adding substantially to the greenhouse effect.

Buildings and construction play a major part, accounting for nearly 40% of energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions whilst also having a significant impact on our natural habitats.

As architects, we have the ability and responsibility to provide solutions that minimize the climate impact of the structures we design.
Larry Strain

Together with our clients, Architects will need to commission and design buildings, cities and infrastructures as indivisible components of a larger, constantly regenerating and self-sustaining system.

The research and technology exist for Architects to begin that transformation now, but what has been lacking is collective will. Recognising this, and as one of the founding signatories of Architects Declare , Isabel Barros Architects are committing to strengthen our working practices to create architecture and urbanism that has a more positive impact on the world around us.

This collective effort seeks to:

Raise awareness of the climate and biodiversity emergencies and the urgent need for action amongst our clients and supply chains.
Advocate for faster change in our industry towards regenerative design practices and a higher Governmental funding priority to support this.
Establish climate and biodiversity mitigation principles as the key measure of our industry’s success: demonstrated through awards, prizes and listings.
Share knowledge and research to that end on an open source basis.
Evaluate all new projects against the aspiration to contribute positively to mitigating climate breakdown, and encourage our clients to adopt this approach.
Upgrade existing buildings for extended use as a more carbon efficient alternative to demolition and new build whenever there is a viable choice.
Include life cycle costing, whole life carbon modelling and post occupancy evaluation as part of our basic scope of work, to reduce both embodied and operational resource use.
Adopt more regenerative design principles in our studios, with the aim of designing architecture and urbanism that goes beyond the standard of net zero carbon in use.
Collaborate with engineers, contractors and clients to further reduce construction waste.
Accelerate the shift to low embodied carbon materials in all our work.
Minimise wasteful use of resources in architecture and urban planning, both in quantum and in detail

The make-up of greenhouse gas emissions differs in Ireland from most other European countries because of the role Ireland plays in supplying meat and dairy products across Europe and the world. Agriculture (largely through methane associated with our herds) makes up 32% of emissions from sectors in Ireland compared to just 11% in the rest of Europe. However, in all other major sectors (Electricity, Buildings, Transport, and Waste Management) we also have a higher carbon footprint per head of population.

Ireland faces a number of challenges in reducing emissions from our buildings. Our homes use 7% more energy than the EU average and emit 58% more carbon dioxide equivalent. Our buildings are 70% reliant on fossil fuels, including oil fired boilers; over 80% of our homes and other buildings assessed for their BER have a rating of C or worse; and the current annual retrofit activity for existing stock is far too limited (approximately 23,000, mainly shallow, retrofits).
Climate Action Plan 2019 , Government of Ireland

We are aware that for everyone working in the construction industry a paradigm shift in our behaviour is required in order to achieve a substantial reduction of the worldwide CO2 emissions. We will do our best to support this shift while encouraging our clients to also adopt this approach.

Isabel Barros Architects in Wexford are committed to face these challenges by fundamentally rethinking the way we design, construct and operate buildings.

As of January 2020 a total of 69 Irish architects/architectural practices have signed the declaration. We hope that many more will join us in making this commitment. Please visit https://ie.architectsdeclare.com/ to join.

Better architecture for a better world!

Construction Costs in Ireland 2019

August 30, 2019 / barros / 1 Comment

For the last 10 years we have been sharing useful information to guide you on the costs for your construction project in Ireland.

Calculating the construction costs for your project is not an easy task. Every year we publish some guidelines and average prices to help you getting an approximate figure.

You can check our other articles in this series here.

The big news this year is the publication of the Building/Construction Cost Guidelines 2019 by the RIAI. This was long due an update and it provides a good overview of the current construction costs.

Construction in Ireland continues to boom, with all sectors showing significant growth.

Tender prices are still increasing in 2019, with construction inflation levels running well ahead of general inflation rates. This is fuelled by increased activity, pressure on wage rates, increases in material prices and regulatory changes.

Linesight’s reported that this year prices will be back to where they were at the peak of the boom.

Linesight’s research shows that, on average, tender prices rose by approximately 7.5% during 2018 while construction input costs rose on average by 3.5%. Due to high ongoing demand this level of increase is likely to continue for the foreseeable future.

During 2019 Linesight predicts that tender prices will increase by 6.5% on average. Their report emphasises the importance of budgeting for future construction inflation when evaluating proposed construction projects.

The rate of increase is not the same around the country – construction prices in the Greater Dublin Area and other major urban centres are increasing at a faster rate than provincial locations.

Average Irish Construction Prices 2019

To provide clients with guidance on building costs, the RIAI (The Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland) has compiled the Building/Construction Cost Guidelines 2019. The information contained in this document is for guidance only using average costs for the building types as set out, current at April 2019.

The tables below are a summary of the RIAI Cost Guidelines 2019. The Guidelines highlight a number of exclusions and conditions and the summary below should be read in conjunction with the full document. The document can be downloaded here.

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The table below shows the average construction costs as generated by Linesight’s Cost Database and sets out typical building construction costs:

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Average Irish Construction Costs 2019. Source: Linesight

Turner & Townsend‘s annual construction cost survey also provides an overview of construction costs in Ireland:

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International building costs per m2 of internal area, in 2019. Source: Turner & Townsend

Percentage change based on last year’s Turner & Townsend International building costs per m2 (Available here: https://isabelbarrosarchitects.ie/blog/building-costs-ireland-2018/)

Labour Rates and Construction Materials Prices

Turner & Townsend‘s annual construction cost survey provides labour costs and also the prices for some materials.

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Labour and Materials Prices, 2019. Source: Turner & Townsend

The latest monthly data from CSO recorded that building and construction materials prices showed a decrease of 0.7% in July 2019. The annual percentage change showed a decrease of 5.9% in the year to July 2019. (Price Index July 2019: 94.1; Price Index June 2018: 100).

The most notable yearly changes were increases in Sand and gravel (+5.9%), Cement (+5.7%), Ready mixed mortar and concrete (+4.9%) and Timbers (+3.2%-7.9%) while there were decreases in Glass (-18.5%), Stone (-2.6%), and Bituminous emulsions (-1.9%).

Guide to Rebuilding Costs in Ireland

The Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI) provides a House Rebuilding Cost Calculator here. This calculator can be used as a guide to give you a minimum base cost for your construction project.

Table of Rebuilding Costs September 2018. Source: Society of Chartered Surveyors.

SCSI House Delivery Cost Calculator Tool

SCSI have developed a useful online calculator for developers to perform an analysis tailored to their own developments.

Private/individual users should use this calculator cautiously. Professional fees, for example, will be considerable higher for private developments than they are for developer built schemes where the level of repetition is often high.

SCSI highlights that the actual construction costs or hard costs made up less than half of the total costs. The online calculator allows users to adjust each elemental component of both the hard and soft costs for themselves.

Typical Exclusions

There are a number of other expenses that you should also consider when estimating your project. See some of the exclusions that may apply to your project here.

Architect’s fees will vary based on a number of factors ranging from size and complexity to level of the service required. These two articles provide some guidelines:

Additionally, you may also need to allow for: