Orla Hegarty

To be used with masks as part of a complete strategy. Safer Indoor Air for Kids Mechanically OR Naturally Ventilated? • schools • out of hours care • day-care • youth groups • clubs • anywhere kids get together Mechanically Ventilated Call a mechanical engineer to review the HVAC system. C02 Monitors LOW RELATIVE RISK • Below 800ppm/ MODERATE RELATIVE RISK • 800-1500 ppm • work to improve indoor air quality to low relative risk range HIGH RELATIVE RISK • Above 1500 ppm • moderate risk reading not improving • Leave room until air quality improved, • Increase ventilation bringing outdoor air indoors. • Use HEPA filters with ventilation to assist if occurs repeatedly. • Reduce occupancy or cease activity causing high risk air quality. Naturally Ventilated Open windows and doors where it is safe to do so. Complete the recommended work to increase outdoor air intake. Once the building is in use, monitor the ventilation with CO2 monitors. Work to create a cross breeze of fresh air. On still days may use a child safe fan." Use Portable HEPA filters if ventilation is not enough. Portable HEPA filters • Use filtration to clean the air, do not add anything to the air. • Use the right size and avoid low flow settings. • CADR = clean air delivery rate • Aim for an equivalent of minimum 6 air changes per hour (ACHe) • ACHe X Room volume = CADR needed • Use of more filters may allow for less noise. • HEPA filters will not lower the CO2 reading on the monitor. *Fans, if used, must be ploced to direct indoor air outside & encouroge cross ventilation. Take core not to recirculate, including avoiding the use of split system air-conditioning For more detailed odvice & warnings please see OzAGE document for Safe Indoor Air. While the building is in use monitor the ventilation with CO2 monitors. Use Portable HEPA filters if ventilation is not enough, outdoor air is polluted or bad weather OZSAGE

Got flu problems?

Try this.

iscussions about high-rise buildings in Dublin are resembling the debate what high-rise means, what it hopes to achieve or how it would work. Worse, discussions have been skewed by uninformed assertions that there are simple choices, and that we should just "get on with it". Illustrations of skyscrapers against a blue sky are seductive, symbolising modernity, growth and employment. They can also suggest, falsely, a quick fix to housing supply problems, high costs and urban sprawl. Add to this a media narrative, framed by PR campaigns, offering credible contentions that often hide short-term and profit-driven agendas. In a city that has endured a decade of stagnation, it is easy to see the attraction of something that suggests a different future. In reality buildings happen when investors see a future asset value that justifies the risks: the taller the building, the higher the costs, the bigger the investment, the longer it takes. All this adds up to slow progress.

High costs demand high returns. Skyscrapers are viable only for high-rent corporate offices, hotels and upmarket apartments, and these large schemes often miss the development cycle - meaning they are finished just as demand wanes. As Dublin city council reports: "The desire to build high is often driven by ambition to make a significant statement rather than for economics or practicality." Despite the last property boom and designated areas for high-rise, only four buildings taller than 50 metres have been completed in Dublin in the past 20 years, two for luxury apartments and two for offices. This is not how to fast-track development, build affordable housing or improve Dublin's competitiveness. We may ask why high-rise has become an issue now, and why the discussion is about sites and not cities? Also, why is it about the economics of developer viability and not prudent public spending? A false dichotomy has been set up, whereby anyone who is against sprawl - and isn't everyone? — must be for skyscrapers, with no reference to more sustainable alternatives. As with Brexit, an issue that has been the subject of public policy and technical engagement for decades has been brought into stark focus by a knee-jerk political intervention. This cuts across the agreed frameworks, forcing test cases that may result in unforeseen outcomes. Determining planning policy under time pressure on live sites is not in anyone's interest, particularly if a narrow point of law sets a precedent for other developments, causing further cost and delay.

This reactive policy-making is high risk for developers, the exchequer and the citizens of Dublin. If, as some propose, development of the city should be "bottom up'" and developer-led, then there are economic consequences, which need to be considered. For example, do we abandon evidence-based plans in order to oversize infrastructure in parts of the city on the off chance that someone might need it for a 50-storey tower, when — or if — the market is right? Or do we divert investment in schools, transport, amenities, water, drainage and utilities for a future population, only to find it never materialises? Are other areas, perhaps more suited to faster, incremental development, to be starved of investment in order to build in redundancy for skyscrapers elsewhere? And what if, as with London's "ghost towers", these upmarket apartments become stores of wealth, with high vacancy rates, rather than homes? These are political risks with political consequences. An evidence-based roadmap for the future city has been democratically adopted by the city council, after two years of research and consultation. It is called the development plan. It addresses the complexities of these challenges and sets frameworks within which planning applications are considered, setting a level playing pitch for developers and mitigating land speculation. A sustainable city should not be shaped around the micro-finances of a handful of landowners. It is the citizens who bear the risks here, not the developers. As with Brexit, a simplistic approach will be exposed as soon as the practicalities can no longer be ignored and the true economic, social and environmental costs are counted. Let's get on with that. Orla Hegarty is an architect and assistant professor at the School of Architecture in University College Dublin

“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...

Most Irish people want clean water, not a nitrates derogation Has the Government ever asked the people of Ireland if they agree with pulling on the green jersey to convince Europe to give us another derogation?

'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...

Containing urban sprawl Sir, – We really ought to knock this idea on the head that building high reduces sprawl. While intuitively appealing, the simplistic “build up, not out” catch-cry ignores the complexity of urban land dynamics. The consistent international evidence shows that high-rise does not automatically equal high-density. Indeed, cities that build taller have not curbed regional sprawl and may have indirectly reinforced it.

This is because high-rise is incredibly expensive to build and the “hope value” of achieving greater number of units on individual plots drives up the price of all urban land, making the city unaffordable for most and driving a flight to the suburbs. The most sustainable, liveable, affordable and dense cities grow through mid-rise gentle densities and this should be precisely the ambition for Dublin. – Yours, etc, DR GAVIN DALY, Dublin 1.

“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...

graph of activity

🏗️ 🇮🇪 “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/...

the standards they’re chasing are unliveable & unhealthy.. this is housing for spreadsheets & short term profit, not housing for people, liveable & functional spaces, sustainable communities & climate action

.. & then there’s this thread

bsky.app/profile/orla...

very limited AND frequently wrong

AI can save us all from those people with decades of knowledge & experience 🥴🙃🫠

Report cover

SCSI REPORT
the real cost of apartment delivery 2025
scsi.ie/wp-content/u...

Page 40 recommendations

Page 41 recommendations

“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”

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

bsky.app/profile/orla...

“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...

Social housing: Almost half of new homes 'no longer viable' The number of financially viable new social homes is projected to fall from 2,092 to 1,100, according to new research.

“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’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 Higher Education and Housing are at odds over how often student accommodation rents can return to market rates under RPZ rules

“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...

Reminders, as public health officials warn of a very bad flu season:

🧵

* Washing hands is not a strategy for a respiratory virus. N95s, ventilation, air filtration -- especially in hospitals.

* We should have been cleaning indoor air with the same effort we put into cleaning drinking water.

1/

Tech elites are starting their own for-profit cities They want to escape from regulation and ‘failing’ democracy — but are they more opportunistic than libertarian?

Yet another example of what Michael Lewis has described as “an experiment in capitalism with too much money”. Searching for this kind of ‘spatial fix’ not new, as @quinnslobodian.com describes in Crack-up Capitalism.

www.ft.com/content/b127... Tech elites are starting their own for-profit cities

the “first priority for government” (housing) is a multi billion euro plan founded on very questionable assumptions, surrounded by industry “research” & false narratives

Ireland’s construction sector to be worth over €20bn by 2027 Ireland’s construction market is set to expand by 10pc by 2027 to more than €20.4bn, with activity in civil engineering and commercial projects spearheading the growth.

🏗️ “Construction Information Services (CIS) reckons that despite huge demand in Ireland for homes, the residential sector here will deliver cumulative growth of just 5% between 2026 & end of 2027” www.independent.ie/business/ire...

Government emailing landlords planning evictions asking them not to proceed, ahead of new rules Landlords are being ‘encouraged to maintain all current tenancies’ in letters and emails seen by The Journal.

The Government is emailing landlords advising them that they're 'encouraged to maintain all current tenancies' ahead of changes to the rental sector in March.

Landlords who have began eviction proceedings have received the correspondence in recent weeks.

www.thejournal.ie/rental-secto...

Section 4.1 page 10

“costs presented in this report are project specific & should not be relied upon for benchmarking purposes” (Dept Housing 2024 report) assets.gov.ie/static/docum...

Housing targets at risk as Dublin apartment build costs top €600k

Headline: “Housing targets at risk as Dublin apartment build costs top €600k”

Fact: Assuming Dept Housing using same basis as previous years, this is an “estimate” from industry from one unnamed project, not independent, not market research, & not audited costs www.businesspost.ie/politics/hou...

the most recent pandemic has demonstrated that (global) public health is entirely politicised, & not evidence led

79% are lost or conceded (by state/state agencies)

It’s basic physics & chemistry, transmission can be reduced or prevented..yet *6 years* into airborne pandemic, Irish public health officials are still giving bad advice that costs people their health & their lives..because “politics”, “face saving” & “potential liability”. Where’s the duty of care?

It’s basic physics & chemistry, transmission can be reduced or prevented.. yet *6 years* into an airborne pandemic, public health officials are still giving bad advice that costs people their health & their lives.. because “politics”

public health advice to “cough in your elbow & wash your hand frequently” is the reason why hospitals & care homes have flu & covid outbreaks, when this is preventable

Flu is airborne, Covid is airborne, & clean air prevents the spread

Ventilation & masking are very effective protections - yet these simple scientific measure are *still* not advised or adopted by health services in Ireland 😷