Public and Community Spaces
Visitor centres, sports facilities, innovation hubs, and public realm
Buildings that belong to everyone
We design public buildings that serve communities for generations. From visitor centres and sports facilities to innovation hubs and public realm, our work creates places where people come together, learn, and belong.
We have a strong track record of delivering public projects on time and within budget, working within the Capital Works Management Framework (CWMF) and public procurement regulations. We understand the specific demands of public sector clients - the accountability requirements, the stakeholder engagement, and the long-term value that these buildings must deliver. Our Blennerville Windmill Visitor Centre was shortlisted for Public Building of the Year at the 2024 Building and Architect of the Year Awards.
We are registered members of the RIAI and the Irish Green Building Council, and we work with public clients throughout Ireland.
What we deliver
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Community buildings are at the heart of what we do. We design spaces that become the social anchor of their neighbourhoods - flexible, welcoming, and built to last. Our Blennerville Windmill Visitor Centre is a model for this approach: an underused building transformed into a thriving community hub with a cafe, community room, modern museum, and new public garden.
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We design sports facilities that serve their communities well beyond match days. Our approach creates buildings that are robust, efficient, and adaptable - able to host training, events, meetings, and community activities alongside their primary sporting function.
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We design workspaces that support collaboration, creativity, and enterprise. Our work for the Dingle Creativity and Innovation Hub demonstrates how an existing building can be sensitively retrofitted and adapted to provide co-working spaces, meeting rooms, and event facilities while dramatically improving energy performance.
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Good public space transforms towns and cities. We design streetscapes, public squares, and landscape interventions that make places more walkable, cyclable, and enjoyable. Our Tralee Town Centre project delivered new shared roadways, pedestrian links, and public gathering spaces as part of the town's ongoing regeneration.
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Genuine collaboration. Long-term thinking. Quality that serves people.
We believe that public buildings carry a special responsibility. They belong to everyone, and they set the standard for how a community values its shared spaces. Our approach to public building design is grounded in three things: genuine collaboration, long-term thinking, and design quality that serves people.
Every public project we undertake begins with deep engagement. We work with project teams, end users, and communities to develop a shared understanding of what the building needs to achieve. This is not consultation as a box-ticking exercise - it is a genuine collaborative process where the people who will use the building help shape its design. We use 3D modelling, workshops, and public presentations to make design proposals tangible and accessible.
We design for the long term. Public buildings must perform well for decades, often serving purposes that evolve significantly from the original brief. We use durable, low-maintenance materials suited to their context and exposure. We design in flexibility where it costs little but keeps future options open. And we prioritise a fabric-first energy strategy that minimises operational costs for the lifetime of the building - an increasingly important consideration for public bodies managing tight budgets.
We have extensive experience working within the CWMF framework and with public works contracts (PW-CF1 and similar). We understand the procurement, reporting, and compliance requirements that public projects demand, and we manage these efficiently so they support rather than hinder the design process.
Selected Public Projects
Blennerville Windmill Visitor Centre
Reenroe Surf School
Tralee Boxing Club & Community Space
Dingle Creativity and Innovation Hub
Further reading on public buildings.
Insight: ResearchInsight: GuideInsight: Essay