Urban Design

O’Mahony Pike Architects has made urban design central to our practice, and we have experience in plan and placemaking at all scales from city extensions and district regeneration proposals, to townscape studies, area action plans and urban infill projects.  We aim to create beautiful places for people, that are enduring, practical and sustainable, with the flexibility to accommodate change.  

As urbanists, we are committed to a holistic, integrated design approach which sees sustainable design as a key premise across all our work.  We strongly promote interdisciplinary collaboration, and we establish close communication between our urban design team and our design team collaborators from an early stage to encourage the cross fertilisation of ideas and special competencies. This allows us to operate at multiple design scales simultaneously, making sure that even the highest level strategic urban frameworks incorporate realistic measures around sustainable movement patterns, including conservation and consolidation of our settlements, and integration of landscape-led green infrastructure with high quality public realm and active travel proposals.

Our work is not just about buildings, it’s also about places: how to make them and how to connect them.  We start with the space a new use will occupy, and work out how best to occupy that space in a way that is good for the user, and in a way that makes it a good neighbour to existing places and activities. Over the years we’ve worked closely with local authorities, communities and our clients at all scales of plan-making to create places with real character and real life.  Our current work includes research into the Decarbonizing Zones identified by Action 165 of the Climate Action Plan 2019,  and we incorporate UN Sustainable Development Goals into all our urban design work.

BIM

BIM, or Building Information Modeling, is fundamentally about creating coordinated, accurate and clear information, and managing it effectively. Virtual Design Construction (VDC) is a by-product of BIM-enabling software which enables us to prototype our designs using real world data to test performance, appearance and any other measurable project values using accurate models, prior to their realisation on site.

By employing the latest BIM technologies into our standard operating procedures, we can collaborate with other design consultants and demonstrate our design intent to our clients in a transparent and exciting manner. We have been using Revit to create data-rich Architectural models since 2013 and are currently implementing our office protocols to establish practice-wide BIM usage as standard.

We regularly support our design team partners and contractors on their BIM implementation journeys. Our Practice BIM Manager is a member of the RIAI Practice Subcommittee I – Building Information Modeling. Industry involvements like these, coupled with lessons learned through the application of standards and processes on live projects thus far, permit us to consider ourselves at the forefront of BIM implementation in Ireland.

We produce, manage and share our project information in compliance with contemporary industry standards for collaborative information exchange, enabling us to work on any project requiring specific information, and seamlessly exchange information with collaborators who have adopted the same.

Delivery

We take pride in our ability to skilfully manage the construction stage of complex projects through an efficient, co-ordinated delivery process, within ambitious programmes. Our people are key to this process: we retain the same project lead between the planning and construction stages, ensuring continuity of vision and knowledge.

Our knowledge of a wide range of construction techniques allows us to adapt our designs to respond to particular project pressures, such as programme, and the availability of materials and labour. O’Mahony Pike Architects has a longstanding commitment to building sustainably, and we have a strong history in the use of prefabricated systems and technologies, which can benefit both the quality of the built project and the programme, while achieving sustainability targets.

We are proactive and progressive in our use of systems and technology to effectively manage the building process, and have rigorous drawing, coordination and inspection regimes, which are beneficial to both the design team and the client in terms of programme, budget and effective use of resources.

We work hard to stay at the forefront of the construction industry in relation to regulations, technology and materials, and ensure that this knowledge is spread across all team members. We have a great record for retaining staff, and their wealth of experience allows us to consistently meet and exceed our clients expectations on programme, budget and quality.

We are comfortable working in both the design and build environment, and with traditional construction contracts, and can fulfil the roles of design coordinator, design certifier and contract administrator.

Sustainability

O’Mahony Pike Architects have a strong and constantly evolving commitment to sustainability, which is reflected in the influence of environmental concerns on our urban design work, as well as the integration of active and passive measures in building and fabric design.  As designers, we recognise that we must all play our part in developing sustainable design solutions that significantly reduce our carbon footprint and that facilitate the type of societal changes necessary to protect the future of our planet.

At urban design level, sustainability encompasses habitat, occupation, and movement for current and future generations. Sustainable movement patterns, high quality public realm and consolidation of our settlements encourage healthy, socially inclusive and, ultimately, resilient communities.

Both minimisation of energy demand and the use of renewable and alternative sources of energy are part of our design approach.

At building level, the practice has led the way in rational and efficient building organisation and innovative construction methods for more than forty years. Herbert Park pioneered demolition recycling, employing a crushing plant on site to convert an old bakery building into hard-core fill for the site works. It was also the site for one of the first CHP plants in Ireland, and GRC panels were used extensively here for the first time on a residential development.

O'Mahony Pike Architects have consistently pioneered the use of off-site construction systems, which reduce waste and emissions and impact positively on project programme and cost. The Cedarbrook housing development was constructed using an innovative and efficient pre-cast concrete system, showcasing the benefits of this type of building technology, offering spacious, bright, high quality and affordable housing in a very attractive environment.  Ashlin House Student Accommodation scheme pioneered the use of a light gauge steel (LGS) system for the construction of all internal and external walls, including integration of all doors, windows and services, significantly reducing the project programme, while also creating a high-quality residential scheme.

We also have an excellent understanding of green building rating tools, and to date we have delivered 250,000 sq.m. of office space with LEED, WELL, WIRED and BREEAM certifications. Recent flagship projects include Capital Dock, Hanover Quay and Horgan’s Quay – all designed to LEED Gold standard, and Lansdowne Place, which achieved a BER A rating.

We are practice members of the Irish Green Building Council, with whom we are currently undertaking research around the adoption of HPI into large scale residential design.

National and Local Policies

O’Mahony Pike Architects has a strong history of working closely with local authorities and state bodies in the preparation of best practice design policy at national and local level, and this work has been recognised by both industry awards and our involvement in key policy issues.

Following the introduction of the 1963 Local Government Development and Planning Act, our Directors were responsible for some of the first local authority Development Plans and Action Area Plans undertaken in Ireland, beginning with the Action Area Plan for the Mahon Peninsula in Cork City in 1970 and continuing through the 1980’s to result in statutory plans in more than twenty counties. This commitment to policy engagement continued following the inception of O’Mahony Pike Architects and has evolved with the practice.

In 1998, we collaborated with McCormack Jamieson Pritchard Architects to produce the Ballymun Regeneration Masterplan. Our experience of building out three of the neighbourhoods of this plan informed subsequent work such as the development of Ireland’s first Strategic Development Zone (SDZ) at Adamstown with South Dublin County Council in 2003, itself the product of an Action Area Plan and Local Area Plan previously prepared by O’Mahony Pike Architects.

These two major projects helped to usher in a new level of sophistication in statutory and non-statutory approaches to component masterplanning, sustainable phasing strategies, and placemaking guidance which we employed in further projects such as the Kilkenny City Centre and Western Environs Local Area Plans for Kilkenny City and County Councils, and the North Drogheda Environs Local Area Plan for Louth County Council.

Since then, we have continued to push design upstream into policy in our work, which includes national policy documents such as the Sustainable Residential Development in Urban Areas (2009) and the Urban Design Manual (2008) for the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government, and local statutory and non-statutory plans including the Moyross Physical and Social Regeneration Masterplan (2008), the South Dublin County Council Building Height and Density Guide (2022) and the Roscrea Town Centre First Plan (2023).