Orla Hegarty
Architect Asst Professor @UCDDublin @UCDArch FRIAI RIBA ARB opinions my own #Housing #Architecture #Construction #CovidIsAirborne #ClimateAction
- Reposted by Orla HegartyNollaig shona daoibh and Happy Christmas from UCD Library! We hope you enjoy your holiday break.☃️ All UCD libraries will close tomorrow afternoon (23 Dec) & will reopen Fri, 2 Jan 2026. The Vet Medicine Library will reopen on Mon, 5 Jan. See our opening hours schedule at www.ucd.ie/library/use/....
- Reposted by Orla HegartyThe Winter Solstice sunrise at Newgrange is one of Ireland’s most powerful connections to the past✨ This RTÉ Brainstorm article by Terry Clavin of the @dib.ie (based at @ria.ie) explores how archaeologist Michael J. O’Kelly rediscovered the alignment in the 1960s. www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2...
- Reposted by Orla HegartyJust a little "head up". The December solstice will be at on the 21st (Sunday) at 15:02 Dublin time. That is the shortest day, so Monday is when the days start to get longer.
- Reposted by Orla Hegarty'John Muir, co-founder of the Corsi-Rosenthal Foundation, a UK charity campaigning for the improvement of clean indoor air, said any investment in the devices was well worth the money'. There's a poll in this article - please vote. www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/educati...
- We have the tools to “dramatically cut the spread of respiratory infections” such as flu, Covid, RSV, measles, etc It is a political choice not to tell people how to reduce the spread of airborne disease spread… & to let Ireland’s hospitals fill with sick adults & children this Christmas
- Fixing South Kerry's depopulation problem An alarming drop in the number of children in South Kerry is running counter to the population rise elsewhere, and it's all down to housing policy” ..my piece in @irishexaminer.bsky.social today www.irishexaminer.com/news/munster...
- 🚈 2 days of traffic chaos from the #Luas shutdown confirms that the (abandoned) plan for *2 years* of traffic chaos for digging up the Luas & replacing it with Metro tracks wasn’t a good idea
- “252 walk-up apartments from 3 to 4 storeys” *not currently permitted under Building Regs Lifts aren’t just for wheelchairs, they’re for parents, prams, pregnancy, disability, aging, paramedics, undertakers, furniture delivery, bicycles, laundry & much much more www.irishtimes.com/business/202...
- Building Regulations: “Part M aims to foster an inclusive approach to the design & construction of the built environment & aims to ensure.. new dwellings are visitable” assets.gov.ie/static/docum...
- “Half of Irish businesses view housing as biggest barrier to competitiveness” .. I bet all of Irish businesses don’t know that the plan for achieving “housing affordability” is wage inflation. What will that do for competitiveness? www.irishtimes.com/business/202...
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- “2,000-year-old building site reveals raw ingredients for ancient Roman self-healing concrete” “Ancient Romans could make exceptional concrete mortars but as Pliny the Elder [23 or 24- 79BC] notes, poor mortar was cause of the collapse of buildings in Rome” theconversation.com/a-2-000-year...
- Reposted by Orla HegartyNever forget, if you design a city for cars, it fails for everyone, including drivers. If you design a multi-modal city that makes walking, biking & public transit attractive options, it works better for everyone, including drivers. INCLUDING DRIVERS. The “war on cars” has always been a lie.
- Reposted by Orla HegartyWhy is Dublin such an outlier on the price of apartments?
- “Government has been incentivising supply at a high cost in a “mistaken belief” that more supply & wage inflation will achieve affordability” www.irishtimes.com/property/res...
- TIME person of the year “The Architects of AI” Real architects are ethical. They care about people’s lives, the planet & the climate emergency
- “on conservative & rough assumption total capital investment [in apartments] could be €2.5 -€3 billion, & more to buyers” .. this lobbyist “industry research” of costs has be challenged hard. It’s not independent, & we can’t afford it @clifftaylorit.bsky.social www.irishtimes.com/your-money/2...
- 1. these new build apartments are “viable” & likely even profitable, we can do better in Ireland bsky.app/profile/orla...
- 2. It’s written for lobbying for even more subsidies, even lower standards, & for issues unrelated to apartment costs bsky.app/profile/orla...
- PSA: SCSI apartment report on development costs is an industry report, not independently audited costs, & it’s framed to support a lobbying position (see next post) #Speirgorm #Planning #Housing
- 3. It has internal inconsistencies & omissions that are difficult to reconcile bsky.app/profile/orla...
- 🏗️ SCSI apartment cost report It makes ZERO sense to claim hard construction cost inflation is 49% for suburban apartments.. but only 22% & 19% for urban apartments. What’s going on? Cat 2 suburban 3-6 storey Cat 3 urban 5-8 storey Cat 4 urban 9-15 storey scsi.ie/wp-content/u...
- Reposted by Orla HegartyPaywall lifted on the #EchoChamberPod with the powerhouse @judesherry.bsky.social and not awful @frankoconnor.bsky.social Derelict Ireland - Awareness Is Not Enough Listen: podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/t...
- Reposted by Orla HegartyIreland’s natural habitats decline further with 90% officially in poor condition www.irishtimes.com/environment/...
- “it remains to be seen if building high-cost apartments will do anything to square the affordability circle at the heart of the country’s housing challenge” ..high cost claims from development sector need to be challenged www.irishtimes.com/business/202...
- Reposted by Orla HegartyWe are building a resource hub that will support educators of children and young people with Long Covid and overlapping illness. Thanks to all our #volunteers who make this possible. www.longcovidkids.org/education-pr... #Education #Inclusion #EquitableEducation #SEND #Disability
- “The World Economic Forum estimated a one-megawatt data centre could consume up to 25.5 million litres of water each year just for cooling, comparable to the daily water use of about 300,000 people” www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12...
- related bsky.app/profile/orla...
- Reposted by Orla HegartyThis is a photo of all the workers who have spent more than five years restoring the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris
- Clean air, ventilation & masks all stop the spread of disease “Flu Season” is just cold weather.. leading to closed windows.. leading to inadequately ventilated buildings.. leading to a build up of virus in the air #FluIsAirborne
- Health Services Executive telling schools & childcare in North West to “keep rooms well ventilated” .. yet still in the media still telling everyone else to “cough in your elbow & wash your hands” 🤦🏻♀️ #FluIsAirborne #CovidIsAirborne
- Reposted by Orla HegartyNew Gist: Waving the Ban Hammer Patrick O'Donovan has proposed a National ID system, a Meta-endorsed regulation model and a mass surveillance machine, all in one. It's government by Dunning-Kruger. www.thegist.ie/the-gist-wav...
- 🪧Current new build 2-bed apartment sales price in Europe Dublin €600,000 Belfast £189,950 (€216,000) 🇬🇧Manchester £299,995 (€341,000) 🇫🇷Le Mans <hour from Paris from €159,100 🇩🇪Essen <hour from Düsseldorf Large 1-bed €265,500 🇵🇹Porto Large 1-bed €240,000 🇮🇹Turin Large 1-bed €190,000 links below
- links in 🧵 bsky.app/profile/orla...
- basis of €600k claims bsky.app/profile/orla...
- 🏗️ SCSI apartment cost report It makes ZERO sense to claim hard construction cost inflation is 49% for suburban apartments.. but only 22% & 19% for urban apartments. What’s going on? Cat 2 suburban 3-6 storey Cat 3 urban 5-8 storey Cat 4 urban 9-15 storey scsi.ie/wp-content/u...
- 🏗️ SCSI apartment cost report It makes ZERO sense to claim hard construction cost inflation is 49% for suburban apartments.. but only 22% & 19% for urban apartments. What’s going on? Cat 2 suburban 3-6 storey Cat 3 urban 5-8 storey Cat 4 urban 9-15 storey scsi.ie/wp-content/u...
- PSA: SCSI apartment report on development costs is an industry report, not independently audited costs, & it’s framed to support a lobbying position (see next post) #Speirgorm #Planning #Housing
- Reposted by Orla HegartyGot flu problems? Try this.
- “We really ought to knock this idea on the head that building high reduces sprawl The most sustainable, liveable, affordable & dense cities grow through mid-rise gentle densities & this should be precisely the ambition for Dublin” #speirgorm @gavinjdaly.bsky.social www.irishtimes.com/opinion/lett...
- “High rise: a statement not a solution to Dublin's housing crisis Knee-jerk political intervention in the debate over tall buildings is likely to leave Dublin’ s citizens counting the cost” ..something I wrote n Sunday Times in June 2019 (full text in alt) www.thetimes.com/world/irelan...
- Reposted by Orla Hegarty'Our waters are crying out for a break from the pollution, Irish people are calling for clean water, but our voices are being drowned out in a world of political wrangling and vested interest. And the thing is, you can’t drink politics.' www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...
- 🏗️ 🇮🇪 “Construction Activity in Ireland has now decreased in each of the past seven months” “faster pace of contraction in November.. weakness in activity levels across commercial, residential & civil engineering being the weakest performing sub-sector” www.pmi.spglobal.com/Public/Home/...
- PSA: SCSI apartment report on development costs is an industry report, not independently audited costs, & it’s framed to support a lobbying position (see next post) #Speirgorm #Planning #Housing
- “Standard homes for student/key workers/shared accommodation/ seniors) ..so lower standard & smaller More “incentives & levy waivers”.. & “for 5-7 years”..so more govt subsidies “Curtail judicial review”.. nothing to do with anything in this report “Encourage public bodies to use private debt”
- SCSI REPORT the real cost of apartment delivery 2025 scsi.ie/wp-content/u...
- .. & then there’s this thread bsky.app/profile/orla...
- “Almost half of planned new Northern Ireland social homes at risk of not being built as not “financially viable”” .. social homes in NI cost average £206,100 (€236,000) build cost .. yes yes we are told it’s double that in Dublin 🧐 www.bbc.com/news/article...
- “I have decided to increase benchmark costs (assumed cost of building new social home) by 13.7% from avg £181,164 to £206,100.. reflects increased costs due to inflationary increases; new Building Regs; increases in NIE Connection Charges, etc” (Nov 25) www.communities-ni.gov.uk/news/oral-st...
- 📻 I’ll be speaking to Pat Kenny @newstalkfm.bsky.social about this after 9am
- “Proposal to allow more rent hikes for student accommodation to attract developers to sector” “aiming to deliver 42,000 beds by 2029” ..a need for student beds ≠ market for beds at €1,000+++/month, it’s just not affordable for most @irishexaminer.bsky.social www.irishexaminer.com/news/politic...
