CIOB NEWS
CIOB POLICY AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS MANAGER JOSEPH KILROY CALLS FOR A NEW APPROACH TO FUTURE-PROOFING
NORTHERN IRELAND’S URBAN DEVELOPMENT… Designing and delivering adaptable buildings
Northern Ireland’s built environment is at a crossroads. Across the UK and Ireland, construction is grappling with rising vacancy in commercial buildings, shifting work patterns, tightening climate targets and escalating demand for homes in cities. Northern Ireland faces all these pressures at once. Yet, within these challenges, lies a clear opportunity: to design and deliver buildings that are adaptable from the outset. A new report from CIOB argues adaptability must become a central principle of modern construction. Instead of designing buildings for a single fixed purpose, the sector should be planning for change - anticipating shifts in technology, tenant needs, working patterns and population growth. Buildings should be constructed so they can evolve over time, supporting multiple uses across their lifespan. At present, too many buildings across the UK and Ireland were never designed with flexibility in mind. Deep floor plates, fixed cores, narrow servicing shafts and rigid layouts can make future adaptation technically difficult or financially unviable. Buildings age and empty out sooner than they should, locking in waste, increasing carbon emissions and leaving valuable urban land underused while housing need goes unmet. Northern Ireland is not immune to these dynamics. Although its office vacancy rates are lower than in Dublin or London, the region faces higher energy costs, a large stock of aging assets and significant pressure to revitalise and densify its urban centres. At the same time, the Executive’s housing strategy highlights the need for thousands of additional homes over the coming decade - particularly in Belfast and Derry. Our report outlines how incorporating adaptability at design stage -through
Joseph Kilroy.
column grids that suit multiple layouts, generous floor-to-ceiling heights, standardised structural bays, modular building services and accessible cores - can enable a structure to be reconfigured for office, residential, education, healthcare or cultural use as market conditions shift. The additional upfront cost is typically modest, yet the long-term benefits are substantial. For Northern Ireland’s construction sector, this approach could bring three major advantages. First, it would help future-proof the commercial market. Adaptable buildings can be reconfigured for collaboration, co-working, hospitality, training or entirely new uses, giving owners and developers greater resilience. Second, adaptable design could significantly support housing supply. Buildings designed with residential conversion in mind - sufficient daylight access, subdividable floorplates, appropriate core locations - can provide a valuable pipeline of future homes. For Belfast in particular, where the city centre remains underpopulated relative to its size, adaptable buildings could help accelerate the shift towards a more
balanced, vibrant urban core. Third, adaptability supports sustainability goals. Reusing and repurposing buildings cuts embodied carbon dramatically compared with demolition and rebuild. Northern Ireland’s construction sector - already a leader in MMC and offsite manufacturing - stands to benefit from positioning adaptability as part of its sustainability toolkit. To unlock these gains, the CIOB report calls for a clear policy shift. Planning policy and building regulations should introduce an adaptability requirement for large-scale urban developments, much like current standards for energy performance or accessibility. Local development plans could explicitly reward adaptable design, while public- sector procurement could mandate flexibility as a condition for funding. Clearer design guidance, combined with industry training, would support architects, engineers and contractors in mainstreaming adaptability as a core competency. Building adaptably is not just good practice - it is an investment in Northern Ireland’s future.
Julie Fitzsimmons, Member Services and Events Coordinator ‑ Northern Ireland T: +44 (0)1344 630 729 - M: +44 (0)7760 164 101 - E: jfitzsimmons@ciob.org.uk www.ciob.org
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