Practice
Established in 1987, Shay Cleary Architects is a design led architectural practice. The office is involved in a wide range of building types for clients which include government agencies, local authorities, schools and colleges, cultural organisations, commercial businesses and private individuals.
The work of the office has the following aims and aspirations;
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To provide the highest quality contemporary architecture for all projects.
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To respond with innovation and imagination to all project requirements.
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To look beyond current client requirements with forward looking solutions that allow for change and development in the future.
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To provide an architecture which is responsive to context and culture in a sophisticated manner.
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To embrace sustainable technologies as an integral component of any architectural proposal.
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To achieve the highest standard of design and construction detailing.
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To provide an individually tailored solution for each particular client brief.
The office has many repeat clients and has won numerous awards for excellence in design and construction which reflects our commitment to the production of quality contemporary architecture that answers our clients needs while enhancing and contributing positively to the built environment.
Shay Cleary
Director
B.Arch Hons NUI, Fellow RIAI, MRIBA
Shay has extensive experience in the masterplanning of large scale commercial and mixed use urban developments both in Ireland and internationally, all of which are award winning at both a national and international level.
He has been in private practice for thirty five years. Following graduation with honours from University College Dublin in 1974 he worked in Paris for Marcel Breuer and later for Candilis Josic and Woods before moving to London where he spent some time at the London Borough of Camden Architects Department.
On his return to Dublin in 1977 he commenced private practice along with teaching part time at the School of Architecture at UCD which he continued to do until 1996.
Since 1987 he has been principal and lead designer of Shay Cleary Architects, a highly motivated design focused practice that produces architectural projects in a wide range of areas. The overriding aim of the practice is to produce sophisticated and innovative modern architectural solutions, to fully address our clients needs in a manner appropriate to our culture and context and to incorporate the latest thinking in response to the growing importance of sustainability.
Shay has wide ranging experience and expertise in the commercial office sector and has led the office team on the design of large scale developments in the city centre in the last ten years.
He is the recipient of over 35 national and international awards for the high quality design output of the office.
John Dobbin
Director
B.Sc (Arch Sc) (Hons), B.Arch (Hons) NUI, ARB, MRIAI, MIDI
John has gained a depth of experience both in Ireland and internationally as lead project architect and associate with a number of Dublin and London based practices on large scale commercial, civic and residential projects.
John completed the Bachelor of Architecture degree with honours at University College Dublin in 2008. He began working in Dublin that year and joined Shay Cleary Architects, working on a high-spec low-energy office development in Dublin city centre and the new National Conference Centre Hotel Tower in the city docklands. As design team leader was shortlisted for the Europan-Europe architectural competition in 2009.
In 2009 he relocated to London and commenced employment with Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands where he was the Lead Project Architect on the £250M Fitzroy Place masterplan and redevelopment project from competition winning scheme design through planning and to construction. The scheme was the recipient of the Best New Public Space Award at the London Planning Awards 2017.
In 2013 John joined Squire and Partners where he was engaged in the masterplan for the £450M redevelopment of the Shell Centre on Londons South Bank . In 2014 John was appointed an Associate with the firm and led the redevelopment of a major residential redevelopment of the Grade 2 listed former Palace Hotel on a site opposite Buckingham Palace in central London for Northacre PLC and Abu Dhabi Financial Group (ADFG).
In 2017 John returned to Dublin to rejoin Shay Cleary Architects in a senior capacity. Since this time he has delivered successful planning applications for a major commercially led redevelopment of the Clanwilliam Court and Marine House complex, Dublin 2 for Hibernia REIT. He has also led the development of a High Density Housing prototype which has been employed recently on a PRS / BTR development for Kennedy Wilson.
Mark Halpin
Senior Associate
B.Arch (Hons) ARB, MRIAI
Mark is a highly experienced Senior Associate and Architect with a Bachelor of Architecture degree with honours from Dublin School of Architecture at DIT Bolton Street in 2009.
He began working in Dublin that year with Henchion + Reuter Architects on a variety of residential, community and educational projects in Dublin and Berlin including the renovation and extension of the Goethe Institute Dublin, a protected structure on Merrion Square.
In 2013 he relocated to London and commenced employment with Maccreanor Lavington Architects working on large scale mixed use, commercial and housing projects and smaller scale school projects in London.
In 2015, Mark commenced working with Shay Cleary Architects, taking the lead on the development of the Blackpitts student housing project in the Liberties area of Dublin, which completed in 2018. The completed scheme was recently the recipient of the 2019 Student Housing Project of the Year Award from the Irish Building and Design Awards.
Mark has been extensively involved as team leader on a number of major commercial office projects within the office including City Block 9 and The EXO building Point Square with specific responsibilities for shell and core design and facade design development. He also acted as team lead on the planning application for the Marine House Refurbishment and Extension project in Dublin 2.
He has completed recently the feasibility design of an office development for the IDA in Kilkenny, has led the planning submission for a residential BTR/ PRS development at Sandford Close, Dublin 6 on behalf of our clients Kennedy Wilson, and a planning submission for a major residential 9 floor scheme in Newmaket in the Liberties area of Dublin.
Shane Fitzpatrick
Associate
B.Arch (Hons) DIT
Shane has worked with Shay Cleary Architects since 2014 and is an extensively experienced Associate. He completed the Bachelor of Architecture degree with honours at the Dublin Institute of Technology in 2013. After graduating he participated in a volunteer community project to build a park in north inner city Dublin with the Upstart Collective. He joined NBK Architects later in the year, working on high end residential projects and commercial renovations, including the extensive renovation and extension of the One Building on Grand Canal Street, now occupied by Stripe.
Shane has been directly involved with a wide range of projects including the luxury apartment development at Appian Way, the major City Block 9 masterplan project and the Shay Cleary Architects competition proposal to locate the European Medicines Agency in Dublin. He has led the redevelopment proposals for a New Headquarters for the BAM Contracting organisation in Kildare.
Shane was also heavily involved in the development of the design of the EXO building in Point Square from the competition winning proposals and was a key member of the team throughout the planning submission process and detailed design to tender and GMP agreement.
He has engaged with the facade design and development for the Clanwilliam Court redevelopment in Dublin 2 for our clients Hibernia REIT.
Most recently Shane has led the detailed design and tender packages for the facade, roof and external interfaces of the Marine House Redevelopment project, a complex project involving the retention and adaptation of an existing building, stripping it back to frame and adding facade and rooftop extensions.
Shane has also helped drive the adoption of Building Information Modelling practices within the office, and acts as BIM manager across the practice.
John Callan
Associate
B.Sc (Arch Sc) (Hons), M.Arch
John is an experienced Associate with both national and international experience in private practice. John completed a Masters of Architecture Degree in the Scott Sutherland School of Architecture, Aberdeen in 2004. After graduating he joined Denis Byrne Architects in Dublin, working on large residential development in Navan. He subsequently joined Emmet Humphreys Architects in Drogheda working on a mix of commercial and residential projects.
In 2012, he relocated to Canada and commenced employment with Ratio Architecture handling a variety of commercial and institutional projects including the development of a new prototype branch for a financial institution and the renovation and extension of the Provincial Court of BC in Surrey.
John joined Shay Cleary Architects in 2016 where he has been directly involved in a number of high profile commercial office projects in the Dublin Docklands including the landmark EXO Building where he was responsible for external facade, roof and landscape design development and the planning submission for the City Block 9 office development.
More recently he has been engaged with the team on a major redevelopment of the Clanwilliam Court office complex for Hibernia REIT in Dublin 2, where he has led the shell and core and external facade design development process for the successful planning submission.
Process + Capability
Shay Cleary Architects are a medium sized RIAI registered practice with the capacity and technical expertise to design and realize projects of large scale, demanding complexity and high profile. The practice comprises a cohesive office organization comprising architectural, administrative and IT personnel.
The office works exclusively in a Building Information Modeling (BIM) environment and all new projects employ this software in the production of design and production information in collaboration with other stakeholders and consultants. The practice also operates a quality control system and values its function as a management device. An office Quality Assurance manual has been developed and provides clear parameters for staff activities, from inception to site operations and project completion. The practice has adopted the RIAI Guide to Good Practice, which comprises a quality assurance scheme for architects with the aim of maximizing the accuracy of design and detailed specification of all projects.
The practice utilizes National Building Specification (NBS) specification software and has membership of the Construction Information Service, an online source for standards and codes of practice. Our policy is to employ personnel of the highest caliber and our staff are encouraged to attend ongoing CPD courses which are run by the RIAI and our internal team.
BIM (Building Information Modelling)
Shay Cleary Architects have been early adopters of BIM technology and have successfully implemented it over many projects. The office now delivers 100% of its live projects through BIM processes and are engaging in collaborations with industry to test and develop next generation components, management platforms and analytical tools.
We recognize the technical and productivity advantages afforded by Digital Project Delivery and BIM, which allows us to more effectively and accurately, design and document buildings and control the flow of building information efficiently by creating a single accessible source of key information through design, documentation, and construction stages.
We have invested in the software, staff training and management processes to implement Digital Project Delivery. The specific benefits of BIM Level 2 are enhanced collaboration, minimized risk and improved productivity and the collaborative aspect of BIM Level 2 drives efficiency and quality throughout the full life-cycle of a project.
The practice is engaged in the appraisal of Carbon Quantitative software which assists in the measurement of embodied carbon in different constructional systems, with a view to promoting the reduction of embodied carbon to a limit of 500kg C02/m2 as advocated by the Zero Carbon Certification Scheme. Enhanced visualization of projects through the use of augmented reality via individual headsets is also an area of increasing expertise for the practice.
A BIM Execution Plan (BEP) is core to develop and manage digital delivery on a project. Our BIM Execution Plan is developed in alignment with key industry standards namely: BS1192:2007, PAS1192-2:2013 and the CIC BIM Protocol. It will provide a detailed breakdown of how the Employer’s Information Requirements will be met. Roles and responsibilities, work and data segregation, co-ordination/ clash detection, collaboration process (information transfer strategies, common data environment) and BIM specific meetings will be agreed between the Employer and Design Team at the outset.
The utilization of these technologies and adherence to a quality BIM Execution plan ensures the effective production, management and delivery of information and promotes improved coordination, a key factor in reducing risk and safeguarding quality
Model Making
Shay Cleary Architects make extensive use of physical models in addition to digital modeling through our BIM processes. These vary from very early stage massing studies in foam and clay to extensively detailed facade studies in timber, board and plastics for specific building elements and components.
The office has dedicated model making facilities with modern foam cutting machinery and materials to allow the rapid creation of simple study models to test the integration of a building onto a particular site. We have also recently engaged with 3D printing processes in house to test more complex massing studies on emerging projects.
More detailed models are commissioned and produced as appropriate and as a part of the ongoing design process, including large scale internal models of specific spaces.
Visualisation
Shay Cleary Architects have the capacity to produce a wide range of visualization and illustrative material to comprehensively document the design process and convey the look and feel of a scheme to a wide audience. Our visualizations are always tailored to the audience and we pay great attention to generating the intended atmosphere and environment around or within the building to convey a full impression of the proposal in use.
Early stage studies often take the form of hand drawn views and illustrations which are successful in rapidly exploring a number of options for discussion at an early stage of design. These can progress to more detailed versions produced for planning discussions and consultations where a softness of visual image is often preferable to a highly defined and finished computer generated image.
These initial illustrations progress through the development of the BIM model to more detailed computer generated images as a design is refined and further defined. Highly detailed realistic images can subsequently be produced with the collaboration of external visualization artists, a process simplified and made more accurate through the use of our detailed model information.
Awards
The practice has received over thirty five awards in recognition of its design quality and architectural output.
Awards include two international awards from the Chicago Athenaeum, an International Award from the RIBA and the premier Silver Medal Award from the RIAI for our Alto Vetro tower while our Cork County Hall project was OPUS building of the year in 2008.
Year
2019
2019
2016
2014
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
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1989
1988
Project
Blackpitts Student Housing
EXO Office Building, Point Square
Office Buildings, City Block 9
Office Building, Point Village
Alto Vetro Residential Tower
Q5 Waltrovka, Prague
Cork County Library Headquarters
Alto Vetro Residential Tower
Alto Vetro Residential Tower
Alto Vetro Residential Tower
Cork County Library Headquarters
Civic Offices Complex
Civic Offices
Central Library Headquarters & Cultural Centre
Cork County Hall Redevelopment
Office Building, Dawson Street
Liffey Trust Enterprise Centre Redevelopment
Northern Gateway Competition
Office Building, Dawson Street
Project Arts Centre
New Galleries at IMMA
Cork County Hall Redevelopment
Temple Bar Framework Plan (Group 91)
Arthouse
Blackrock Education Centre
Arthouse
Blackrock Education Centre
National Gallery, Dublin
Agriculture House, Dublin
Walsall Art Gallery
Irish Museum of Modern Art
Irish Museum of Modern Art
Temple Bar Framework Plan (Group 91)
Houses at Swan Place
Point Depot (NEC)
Mercer Street Offices
Awarding Authority
Irish Building and Design Awards
Chicago Athenaeum
NAMA / Deloitte
NAMA / Grant Thornton
Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland (RIAI)
Red Group Prague & RIAI
Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland (RIAI)
Chicago Athenaeum
Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA)
Opus
Opus
Meath County Council & RIAI
Roscommon County Council
Dunlaoghaire Rathdown County Council
Opus
An Taisce
The Liffey Trust
Ballymun regeneration
Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland (RIAI)
Architectural Association of Ireland (AAI)
Architectural Association of Ireland (AAI)
Cork County Council & RIAI
Fundació Mies Van Der Rohe Barcelona
Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland (RIAI)
Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland (RIAI)
Architectural Association of Ireland (AAI)
Architectural Association of Ireland (AAI)
National Gallery of Ireland
Architectural Association of Ireland (AAI)
Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council
Architectural Association of Ireland (AAI)
Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland (RIAI)
Temple Bar Properties
Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland (RIAI)
Architectural Association of Ireland (AAI)
Architectural Association of Ireland (AAI)
Award Type
Student Accommodation Project of the Year
International Architecture Award
Competition Winner
Competition Winner
RIAI Silver Medal for Housing
Competition Joint Winner
Public Building Commendation
International Architecture Award
International Award
Building of the Year 2009
Building of the Year 2009
Competition Finalist
Competition Finalist
Competition Finalist
Building of the Year 2007
Urban Infill Award
Competition Winner
Competition Winner
Regional Award
Award
Special Mention
Competition Winner
Shortlist
Regional Award
Special Mention
Special Mention
Special Mention
Competition Finalist
Special Mention
Competition Finalist
Award
Regional Award
Competition Winner
Medal for Housing Special Mention
Downes Medal
Award
Selected Clients
A C Forde & Co
AMP Capital
Ballymun Regeneration Ltd.
BAM Property Ltd.
BNP Paribas
Bruce Shaw
Campion Properties
Convention Centre Dublin
Cork County Council
Creedon Group Ltd
Davy Group
Davy Hickey Properties
Deloitte
Department of Education and Skills
Dublin City Council
Dublin City University
DDDA
Dun Laoghaire IADT
Eircom
Ellier Developments Ltd.
EY
GEM Group
Grant Thornton
Green Property
Hardwicke
Hibernia REIT
Hollybrook UK
Horse Racing Ireland
IDA Ireland
The Iveagh Trust
Kendlebell Midwest Ltd.
Kennedy Wilson
KPMG
Leopardstown Racecourse
Liffey Trust
Mountbrook Homes Ltd.
NAMA
Office of Public Works
P.Elliott & Company
Pierse Group
Point Depot N.E.C.
Port of Cork Company
Project Arts Centre
PWC
Red Group, Prague
Ronan Group Real Estate
Temple Bar Properties
The Liffey Trust
Touchstone Healthcare Group
Treasury Holdings Ireland
University College Dublin
Walls Construction
Winterbrook Homes
WK Nowlan
Collaborators
Since 1987:
Cormac Allen
Pia Becker
Janine Bourke
Dermot Boyd
Lennart Breternitz
Noreile Breen
Karen Brownley
Carlus Buckley
Eva Byrne
John Callan
Peter Carroll
Andrew Clancy
Peter Cody
Philip Comerford
Ronan Costelloe
Aoife Cox
Martin Cox
Kathleen Creed
Angus Denvir
John Dobbin
Stephen Doherty
Marcus Donaghy
John Dorman
Fergal Doyle
Mark Elliott
Jennifer Fay
Shane Fitzpatrick
Michael Frain
Sam Gaine
Jonathan Garvey
Ronan Halpenny
Mark Halpin
Paul Healy
Eoin Healy
Anne Henry
Joe Hogan
Dáire Kelly
Hugh Kelly
Justin Kelly
Des Kennedy
Ciara Keohane
David King-Smith
Steve Larkin
Tom Larkin
Markus Lassan
Caroline Lawlor
Colin Markey
Nicola Masterson
Dermot McCabe
Tiernan McCarthy
Brian McClean
Eavan Meagher
Jesmond Meli
Mark Monaghan
Colm Moore
Catherine Moran
Aisling Murray
Cornelia Murphy
Stephen Musiol
Esmonde O'Briain
John O'Callaghan
Aoife O'Donnell
Eilis O'Donnell
Cormac O'Droma
Seán Antóin Ó Muiri
Antoinette O'Neill
Melanie O'Reilly
Eoghan O'Shea
Tim O'Sullivan
Adam Peavoy
Sinead Pickett
Natasha Premjee
Suzannah Potts
Niamh Redmond
Kate Rhatigan
Dominic Stevens
Birgit Sunkel
Peter Tansey
Seamus Thornton
Karl Tobin
Des Twomey
Simon Walker
Andrew Walsh
Brian Ward
Lesley-Anne Whelan
Elizabeth Wheeler
Sonia Webber
Kevin Woods