Celebrating 25yrs of Anthony Reddy Associates

Speech of Tony Reddy Managing Director, Reddy Architecture and Urbanism Group
on the occasion Of The 25th Anniversary Clebration Of Anthony Reddy Associates

Thursday 13 September 2007, National Gallery, Dublin

Minister, Ladies and Gentlemen, Colleagues

On behalf of the Directors and Staff of the Reddy Architecture and Urbanism Group it gives me great pleasure to welcome you here to this function which marks ARA’s 25 years in practice.

When I began private practice in 1982 we were entering a period of significant decline in the Irish economy and the building industry in particular. From todays perspective it is hard to fully comprehend just how bleak the 1980’s were. A short vignette illustrates the point.

Recently a young staff member came upon a set of drawings from our Archives from 1987. It was for a small office building for a food industry cooperative in a rural area. What was significant was that all the drawings were by hand and had been drawn by myself and Noel Tobin, now a Senior Project Manager and client at Eircom PLC. The project was built for a very competitive figure. Such was the calibre of the building that we were called to explain by the client body – mainly farming representatives, who were so surprised at the quality of the building that they were concerned that the executives had made other funds available to us from undisclosed sources. This was Ireland in the 1980s.

In the intervening period there have been many contributors to the significant changes that have occurred in our profession but five in particular stand out:

  • Clients
  • Staff
  • Consultants
  • Contractors
  • A successful economy prudently managed by successive governments 

Clients

Our best clients recognise the significance of good architecture, not only for the immediate end users but also for its contribution to the quality of the built environment and its impact on the wider public.

Good quality architecture adds value, both economically and socially, not just to an individual project, but to the whole community by promoting and producing high quality buildings. Our practice is creating successful projects for our clients and making a very real contribution to the social, economic and cultural life of the country.

The fact that we have been fortunate to design such a variety of successful buildings is testament to the continually rising standard of building design across the spectrum of each of our offices. In this regard we must acknowledge the very important role played by our clients as it is the successful interaction between the client and the design team that makes a building great. To quote Edwin Lutyens: “ there will never be great architects or great architecture without great patrons”

Staff

Our Staff have been a vital part of our success over the past quarter of a century. From first joining us many have matured into highly skilled professionals while others have brought their significantly wide ranging skills to enhance our practice. Between our five offices we are now a nationwide practice with a total of 240 staff.

We are all aware of the complexity of the tasks involved in creating buildings: user requirements, legislation, time and financial constraints, health and safety and of course brief and design objectives all impact on the quality of the building.   There are unique demands on our practice and the architectural profession to support the quality of education, training and experience needed to ensure that all the facets of a project are managed effectively.  The Building Control Act which registers the title Architect in the interest of protecting the public will be key to ensuring standards are maintained. It is important that we have a continuing growing core of talented experienced professionals.

It gives me great pleasure to communicate tonight a number of important announcements:-

Robert Keane is to become a director at ARA Dublin.
Robbie joined us in 1997 and has been responsible for the Masterplanning of the Heuston South Quarter Project, the HQ office building for Mason Hayes Curran, and many other mixed use developments in which he has displayed his architectural and urban design abilities. Robert is quick to tell you he hails from Mayo where his name is Rob KANE but since we discoved in Dublin that he is such a good footballer we immediately changed it to Keane, he still complains that he doesn’t earn the equivalent salary.

Anne Kiernan is to become an Associate Director at ARA Dublin.
 Anne joined us in 2004 and has been responsible for the MacDonagh Junction project in Kilkenny, the Masterplan for South Wharf Dublin , Cuisine de France and the new OPW Government offices in Trim

John Crawford is to become a Director in our Sligo office.
 John Crawford who I am sure is well known to almost all of you. John joined us from Scotland in 2001, we still haven’t weaned him from his diet of single malt whiskey and haggis. He has been the project architect for the Ardmore Hotel and Prospect Hill Residential scheme at Finglas, The Hilton Hotel at Kilmainham and in his new role is involved in a wide range of mixed use projects including the NUI Galway Masterplan.

Terence McCaw joins us as an Associate Director at our Belfast office.
Terence has been involved at a senior level for over 25years in both private practice and at the Planning Appeals Commission since 2002.

Michael Ahern -  Finance Director
Michael is a Chartered Accountant and has held senior positions across a broad range of industries both in PLC and owner managed environments. Most recently Michael has worked in Construction and Property Development businesses.

I have no doubt that each will make a significant contribution to the success of the practice in future years.

While it gives us great pleasure to make these specific announcements I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all the staff both past and present whose commitment and efforts helped to create the practice you know today

Consultants

When I began in practice an Architect considered himself fortunate to be involved in any project that required a Structural Engineers or a Quantity Surveyor or even a Services Engineer.

Nowadays design teams have grown so large and specialism so rarefied that on a recent project we had an Industrial Archaeologist and an Bat Expert. Our team looked like a scene from a Cecil B. de Mille film set.

This increased design team size reflects the continuing change in the Irish building industry and the growing complexity of the projects in which we are involved.

The creative energy created as a result of our close collaboration has assisted us in designing even more refined projects for out clients. We look forward to the continuing successful collaboration with all our friends in the future.

Contractors

Without good contractors architects designs would remain as mere ideas. Over the past quarter century the Irish contracting industry has truly transformed.

One of the greatest attributes of the Irish building industry is a “can-do” and mutually co-operative culture It is an attitude that has contributed to it’s successes when compared to it’s equivalent in other countries.

Not withstanding that the concerns of most contractors and consultants here share regarding the new forms of Government Contracts, it is my  sincere hope that we can maintain this unique characteristic into the future.

The Economy, Architecture and Urbanism

The first phase of the Celtic Tiger economy was generally welcomed as a model of how a small peripheral country could benefit from EU membership. However as our success has continued over a sustained period it is now perceived as a real competitor rather than a country that everyone wishes well. In this new competitive environment it is critical that we achieve the highest standards in all aspects of our nation’s endeavours. The quality of our towns and cities and architecture is a key part of this objective.

The link between successful economies and high quality cities and towns is now recognised by economists. Richard Florida, the author of ‘The Rise of the Creative Class’ points out that a whole new class of workers is emerging in most developed countries such as Ireland.  It includes information technology professionals and programmers, educators, artists, musicians, entertainers, architects, engineers and graphic and product designers and creative professionals in business, finance, law and healthcare.  In Ireland the creative sector now employs 33.5% of the workforce and accounts for nearly half of all wages and salary income.  On this basis, Ireland is currently placed at the top of the global Creative Class Index.  It is this key sector of Ireland’s workforce that will provide the energy and talent to power the next generation of economic growth, the Celtic Tiger – Phase Two.  Indeed, Ireland has now entered what Florida defines as ‘The Creative Age’.

Florida and other experts research strongly suggests that companies locate in close proximity to one another to recruit from a concentration of talented people who spur innovation and create economic growth.  Creative people look for places where they can make friends easily, find acceptance of diverse lifestyles, enjoy a wide variety of recreation and entertainment and live productive and stimulating lives.  What relevance has this to Architecture and Urban Design you may well ask? 

Many experts on urban and regional growth have emphasised the importance of places as incubators of creativity and new industries. The members of this new creative class are drawn to places where they can enjoy a range of economic opportunities, a stimulating environment and amenities for people with diverse lifestyles. While there are many reasons that we should be concerned about the quality of our cities, towns and villages, this new strategic factor provides a clear new economic imperative to Ireland implementing polices, which are focused on creating integrated sustainable neighbourhoods to improve the quality of our cities, towns and villages.

The Challenge

In the increasingly urbanised world of the twenty first century, the challenge for urbanism is to find solutions to the major problems facing our towns and cities: the control of sprawl, sustainable growth, integrated transport systems and better quality urban environments and public realm.  Creating neighbourhoods that are diverse, varied in use, walkable, human scaled and identifiable by the high quality of their public realm can contribute to this process. While not always seen as part of the architects role we believe that this is very important and key to what we bring to projects.

Visions for the Future
Sustainable Neighbourhoods & Integrated Development

The magnitude and significance of the challenge in creating sustainable neighbourhoods and social balance, needs to be recognised. It can be compared with some of the other major challenges, which we have faced since the foundation of the state. We responded to these challenges with brave initiatives:

  • The opening of the economy in the early 1960’s
  • The introduction of free secondary education in 1967
  • Entry into the EEC in 1972
  • The creation of a new economy through the Social Partnership agreement in the mid-1980’s.

The renewal of our towns and cities, from the 1990’s onwards, seemed to be an unattainable aspiration at the beginning of that decade.  The challenge is similar in a number of ways: It is essential to the social and economic future of Irish society.  It requires a shared understanding and consistent approach by a range of public and private institutions.

Achievement of the new principles of urban development and social integration seem to be blocked, more than anything else by the belief that we in Ireland are so attached to dispersed development and so divided between different social groups and interests, that we cannot create quality, sustainable, socially cohesive cities and towns. 

In recent years there have been important developments in the implementation of strategies that govern spatial developments and residential settlements. These include the National Spatial Strategy, Regional Planning Guidelines, Local Authority Development plans and Residential Density Planning Guidelines. These initiatives contain five clear principles:

  • Sustainable urban densities
  • Consolidated urban areas
  • Compact urban satellites
  • Rapid communication networks
  • Sustainable urban settlement

This evolution in policy is potentially of great significance.  The characteristics of sustainable neighbourhoods are now understood at least at a policy level.  Such neighbourhoods have distinct social economic and environmental advantages over the low-density suburban development common throughout Ireland in the last half-century.  These advantages include lower level of car dependence, greater social integration, less single use zones and greater access to social, community and commercial services.

Significant attempts are being made by a cross section of architects, planners and built environment professionals including ARA to arrive at solutions to current and future growth to provide sustainable forms of urbanism. Examples include Adamstown, Newcastle and Saggart in South Dublin County Council, Pellettstown, the North Fringe and South Wharf in Dublin, Cherrywood and Sandyford in Dun Laoghaire Rathdown Co. Co. These projects all attempt to create new communities that have a moderate densities and better public transport provision. Success in providing a wide range of such communities throughout Ireland is critical to the economic future of our society. 

Let us hope that the next twenty five years can produce a similar success in the implementation of public policy for sustainable neighbourhoods and integrated development in the quality of our architecture and urban design new extensions to our cities and towns.  To achieve this, however, will require a more widely shared understanding, and consistent implementation of the public policy principles by government, local authorities, planners, urban designers, architects and all those involved and responsible for the Architecture and Urban Design of our cities and towns.

We at ARA will work actively to encourage the creation of new policies for the urban environment and to strive through our work to put quality Architecture and Urbanism on the public agenda.

Finally I would like to thank you all for your support and encouragement in the past. We look forward to continuing our association in the future.

I would like to thank the Minister who first put the issue of sustainability at the centre of the political agenda.

I would also like to extend my thanks to Belinda Rooney, Anita Cunningham, Jane Fox, Claire Fergus, Amanda Murray and Kate Dobbyn for their sterling work in organising this event. I would also like to acknowledge my fellow directors, associates and colleagues for their support in making our practice what it is today and look forward to continuing success and achievement in the future.

 

 

APPENDIX

Quality architecture, incorporating the full principles of sustainability is a pre-requisite for an attractive, viable built environment that responds to the actual needs and legitimate aspirations of all citizens.  It must be considered to be an essential ingredient of well thought-out urban policies and not merely the icing on the cake.

The report of the NESC on housing policy provides an interesting perspective on the need for sustainable and integrated development in our cities and towns.

The Economy and Architecture
The NESC report outlines an analysis of the economic, social and policy mechanisms at work in the housing system and the key problems that now need to be addressed. The report identifies the issues and anxieties concerning housing that have been expressed by citizens, the social partners and others in recent years. It provides an analysis of the Irish housing system, interpreting it as dynamic and unbalanced. The report contains a series of policy recommendations.
It is of particular interest to architects and urban designers that two general findings inform these recommendations. Firstly the report concluded that the instruments that can address the core challenges are to be found more in the areas of planning, urban design infrastructural investment, land management and public service delivery rather than in manipulating tax instruments to alter the supply or demand for land or housing. Secondly increased housing quantity and better quality neighbourhoods can be complementary and, indeed, mutually reinforcing. The report states that this requires a clear vision of the kind of high-quality, integrated, sustainable neighbourhoods that can and should be built.

Click here to download this speech in .PDF Format

 

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