City urban plan is a European winner

Date Published: 26-Feb-2010

GALWAY-BORN architect Conor Sreenan has won an international design competition for innovative ideas and skill on only the second occasion that Ireland has participated in the event.

Conor emerged victorious from an entry of almost 2,500 in EUROPAN, an open international design competition for young Architects, with his master plan and design of the development of a peripheral site at Ballyburke at the edge of Galway, a common challenge of urbanisation in Ireland today.

Educated at the ‘Bish’ and NUIG, Conor received his degree in Architecture from UCD and is currently working on a number of projects in Galway.

The competition site, identified by Galway City Council for EUROPAN, is 36 hectares of land located between rural and residential areas at Ballyburke/ Mincloon on the north west fringes of the city.

The European wide open architectural competition known as EUROPAN has the objective of bringing to the fore the innovative ideas and skills of Europe’s young architects and urban design professionals and publicising the resulting designs.

The competition, based on actual sites, has the twin objective of helping the particular cities and developers that have provided the sites to find innovative architectural and urban solutions for the transformation of these urban locations.

EUROPAN is a European federation of national organisations, which manages the architectural competitions on a biannual basis followed by building or study projects. The competition is launched simultaneously in the European countries on common themes, objectives and rules.

In Ireland EUROPAN is supported by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland (RIAI). The open competitions are anonymous and public calls for proposals are on a European scale.

In awarding first prize to Conor, the International Jury said that the Galway site presented a particularly difficult competition, typical of peripheral sites attached to urban conurbations across Europe. They concluded that Conor’s proposed design provides an excellent analysis of the site, urban design, house types, recognising the prevailing climate and creates a pattern of sustainability in the build environment at the edge of Galway city.

This is only the second time that Ireland has secured sites for inclusion in the EUROPAN competition, and the first time that Galway has done so, thanks to the drive of Rosemary Webb, Senior Executive Architect, in Galway City Council.

It remains to be seen whether any element of the scheme will be implemented by the City Council. The winning scheme will be on exhibition at Galway Civic Museum until March 6.