Eoin Ó Broin
Question:53. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the status of the draft national policy for architecture and the built environment. [44974/19]
View answerWednesday, 6 November 2019
Questions (53)
Written answers
My Department is currently preparing a discussion document for consultation on a new National Policy on Architecture and I intend to launch the public consultation phase in the coming weeks. This open consultation process will allow plenty of opportunity for all communities, stakeholders and citizens to have their say. We will invite online and written submissions, and social media engagement, alongside a series of workshops and meetings to allow the public to become involved in the drafting of the new policy. It will also include engagement with key bodies and organisations representing those working in the area to ensure their views are heard.
The discussion document for the consultation phase was prepared by my officials of my Department in close consultation with a committee representing the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, the Department of Education and Skills, the Office of Public Works, the Health Service Executive, the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland, the schools of architecture and the Irish Architecture Foundation. It will illustrate, and seek comments on, the main ways in which architecture and our built environment affect society, our health and wellbeing and our ability to prosper. These include climate adaptation and mitigation and sustainable development, the benefits for everyone of obtaining high quality in the built environment, the protection and reuse of our built heritage, ways we can demonstrate built environment leadership and the need to foster education about our built environment.
The Policy will be informed by the feedback we receive from the consultation phase as well as by a review of the previous policy, which placed an emphasis on sustainable development of the environment and urban design, incorporating architectural heritage in a holistic integrated manner, and supporting high quality modern architecture. The final report will be prepared in 2020.
It is my intention that a new National Policy on Architecture will play an integral part in implementing the Project Ireland 2040 vision, providing policy actions that will encourage best quality in researching, understanding, managing, enhancing and reusing our existing built environment assets as well as delivering sustainable new places and spaces.