“Irish Built Environment: Critical Issues for Local Government”

27th June 2011David Byrne

Senior Architect

Fingal County Council

Fingal

• Area – 450 sq.km• Location –

North County Dublin• Bordered by –

Dublin CitySouth County DublinMeathKildare

Fingal - Population

• 239,813 citizens• 4th largest Local Authority• 22.2% population growth

2002-2006• Fastest growing• Youngest• Blanchardstown, Swords

and Balbriggan are key growth centres

2006 Census, CSO

The Challenge

The challenge is to plan for and facilitate the building and maintenance of better, more sustainable cities, towns and villages; the safeguarding of our rural communities and landscapes; the making of better houses, schools, hospitals and all sorts of public buildings with better access; the best management of our built heritage; and our natural heritage

Summary Position for Local Authorities

• Critical Infrastructure• Unfinished Residential Development• Further development of Building

regulations • Public Policy• Resources• Organisational Change

• Water • Transport (Metro North and West; Rail interconnector)

• Potential for industrial development and inward investment.

• Roads maintenance • Waste management • Waste water management • Electrical power • Broadband

Critical infrastructure

National Housing Agency Survey 2010

• Not the scale of problem in Fingal as elsewhere

• Some issues in the Growth areas, range from unfinished roads to a small number of unfinished houses

• Need to make careful decisions based on location, sustainability and value for money in finishing.

Public Policy• Finance - getting better value for money

• Housing - New Policy paper of [June 2011] - Step change

• Public Health – Institute of Public Health: guidance on Health Impacts and the built Environment [2007]

• Department of Environment - Urban Design Manual [2010]

• Housing Design – Suite of Design Guidelines on Planning, Urban Design and House Design for sustainability

• Part L of Building regulations - Department of Environment

Finance is a critical ingredient• Caps on Capital and Revenue expenditure

• Decline of Local Government Support Fund Allocation

• Downward pressure on rates • Challenge of doing more for less - doing small things well, in a way that can be repeated

• Resources and procurement

Capital Expenditure

€168.00m

€408.30m

€0.00m €100.00m €200.00m €300.00m €400.00m €500.00m

2011

2008

2008 - 2011

The Staff Challenge

• Overall staff numbers have declined by 10% due to non-renewal of contracts and early retirements

• Staff nos in environmental service departments

e.g. Architect's down nearly 25%• Scope to procure external expertise is limited

• Issue not simply one of loss of numbers, but also one of loss of experience and knowledge

2008 - 2011

Traditional Functions

Traditional Functions:

Housing Transportation Water Services Planning Environment Waste Management Economic Development Community, Recreation & Amenities Architects Information Technology

Total Council Staff 1723

(includes 95 school wardens)

Planning & Development

110

Environment242

Community, Recreation &

Amenity393

9

Services

31

Finance, Corporate, HR and IT

202

Law24Architects

44

Water Services

248

Transport291

(including 95 School Wardens)

Housing129

January 2008

1556 FTE

• Change from several "functional " Departments to a more "outcome" based structure.

• More cross-disciplinary working • More evidence based decision making (GBI)

Supporting the day-to-day functioning of the organisation

Delivery of local services locally

Centrally- delivered and

strategic services

Operational

March 2011

Corporate

Strategic

Dublin shortlisted for World Design Capital

“Irish Built Environment: Critical Issues for Local Government”

27th June 2011David Byrne

Senior Architect

Fingal County Council