The Chamber of Architects has issued its detailed reply in the consultation process in relation to the Planning Authority review of policy P35 of the Development Control Design Policy, Guidance and Standards, 2015.

In general comments, the Chamber noted that ”the proposed amendment does not bring a material change to the status quo, provided that the building height for UCAs and villa/bungalow areas remains untouched, as assumed in the reply,” seen in the link above.

It said that this assumption is being made in view of the text in the Phase 1 public consultation document referred to in the introduction to this document.

Nevertheless, the Chamber of Architects said that it remains of the ”firm opinion that the planning system requires a major reform to move away from its dependence on development control policies to regulate development, and in favour of masterplans that produce comprehensive, researched, and thorough strategic plans for each of our towns and villages.”

Moreover, the development control process itself, too, requires extensive reform, it said. ”Poor quality buildings should not be approved, regardless of their compliance with the quantitative parameters in the various policy documents.”

The Chamber called on the government to enter into discussions with it on reforming the practice of architecture by forming a joint initiative to:

1. Develop a national architecture policy;

2. Set up design review panels to allow for projects to be assessed purely on architecture merit;

3. Develop an urban design development strategy;

4. Mandatory architectural design competitions for ALL publicly funded projects.

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