Irish Minister for the Environment, John Gormley, was on hand to present the annual Irish Architecture Awards of the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI).
Speaking at the awards at the CHQ, IFSC, Dublin Docklands, the Minister said: "The challenge of history is to recover the past and introduce it to the present."
He continued: "In the surroundings of the beautifully restored CHQ it is easy to see how the past and the present can live easily together if we give enough attention to conservation and clever design.
"Achieving the ambitious targets for energy efficiency in all our buildings will present challenges to the construction industry. The signs are most encouraging that industry, more and more, accepts the commercial benefits of moving with us on this reform process.
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The Minister added: "We look forward to continuing the journey with them over the next few years."
Minister Gormley referred to the changes which he has made to the Building Regulations in December 2007 which require new dwellings to achieve a 40% reduction in energy consumption and a 40% reduction in CO2 emissions from 1 July next."
He added: "I will further update the Building Regulations in 2010 to achieve a 60% improvement over the 2005 standards for new dwellings."
Minister Gormley complimented the RIAI for the recent introduction of a statutory registration scheme for architects, the legal provision for which he, as Minister, had commenced on 1 May 2008.
"The Building Control Act 2007 rightly provides that the legitimate use of the title "architect" is restricted to properly-qualified professionals whose names are entered on a national statutory register. Similar provisions will apply to the titles of "Quantity Surveyor" and "Building Surveyor", the Minister stated.
The Minister presented the 'Most Sustainable Building Award' which is sponsored annually by his Department, to the winning client, designer, contractor and site foreman of the winning entry – the Civic Offices building in Cork City. The Department had again commissioned the beautiful statuette - 'The Messenger' - in Irish Bog Oak with the theme: 'The Artist lives in hope for a better tomorrow'.
The Minister extended his warm congratulations to all the winners and to all those whose work was of such high quality that it merited short-listing. The Minister then formally opened the RIAI Irish Architecture Awards 2008 Exhibition.
(JM)
