Northern Ireland Region (15)

William Holland has over 7 years experience within the field of Architectural Technology, working across a wide range of projects spanning the full spectrum from residential to commercial, working with local and multinational brands. William started out his professional career after graduating from Ulster University in 2015 with an honours degree in the CIAT Accredited BSc Architectural Technology & Management course.

William began working at Architectural Design Partnership (CIAT Chartered Practice) during his placement year at university and secured a full-time position within the Partnership upon graduating. He has progressed within the practice to an Associate Partner.

William's specialism lies in Healthcare Design, working closely with RQIA and other statutory bodies to deliver functional and compliant care and medical facilities. William leads design teams from conception to completion on site to maximise and ensure efficiency, collaboration and compliance with CDM regulations. William's understanding of the RQIA standards, policies and clients' requirements ensures that designs are both functional and commercially viable.

William received his Chartership in August 2017. Since then, he has gone on to become a Regional CPD Officer for the Region 15 Committee and has recently been elected as the Region 15 Councillor, which will take effect in November 2019. William took up his position as Chair for the Northern Ireland aspirATion Group in 2013 whilst studying for his degree. He has been a key contributor to growing the group substantially since conception, working alongside industry leading companies to connect students with employers and to create networking opportunities.

William speaks regularly at Ulster University and local colleges promoting careers in Architectural Technology and communicates the importance of progression within CIAT from student to Chartered Membership. William became Chair of the aspirATion Group in 2020.

Jill graduated in 2014 and has recently achieved Chartered Member, MCIAT in May 2019. She has had the opportunity to work on a variety of commercial and healthcare projects. An early highlight was a project for the Royal Victoria Hospital Belfast, to facilitate the testing of cells in clinical trials.

She is currently an Architectural Technologist / Project Manager at Hamilton Architects, Belfast and works as both the Designer and Project Manager for the rollout of new stores, relocations, extensions and refurbishments of Specsavers Optical Superstores throughout Northern and Southern Ireland. Jill runs jobs from conception to completion and has numerous projects on simultaneously which keeps her on her toes.

Jill enjoys getting out to site as she feels it's where your drawings come to life. She feels very fortunate to have project sites all over the country, so has seen a lot of Ireland recently.

Charlie has over 20 years’ experience working as a construction professional for various architectural practices, contractors and public sector agencies. He has proven expertise in architectural design and project management across a range of projects.

Charlie has been involved in numerous projects including high-end one-off houses, multi-unit residential developments for both private sector clients and housing associations, mixed-use developments, schools, hotels and student accommodation with projects delivered using traditional forms of contract and design and build contracts.

He has been a Chartered Member of CIAT since 2014; previous to that he was an associate member and profile candidate for numerous years, before realising the benefit of full Chartered membership.

Charlie is a Senior Architectural Technologist / Head of Technical at Urban Innovations. His role includes managing the delivery of technical construction packages and reviewing packages internally with the Architects, Project Leads and design teams before they are issued at tender and construction phases. He also liaises closely with consultants, clients and Design and Build Contractors on Employers Requirements, project scope, programme and agree delivery dates for work packages and ensure these dates are met.

The projects they are involved with vary but are mostly large-scale commercial developments including hotels, offices and student accommodation. 

Rori has been involved with CIAT since graduating in 2012 and has been on the Regional Committee since 2015. During this time, he and CIAT and university colleague Matt Weir founded the “Young Architectural Technologists’ Network” in Northern Ireland. Since, CIAT have adopted this movement in the form of “aspirATion” of which he was the current overarching chair until 2019.

Rori has a keen interest in BIM and as a leading figure within the BIM network within Northern Ireland, sits on the NI BIM Steering group. He achieved Chartered Member, MCIAT in 2019. He is also honoured to be a Northern Ireland Ambassador for the Architects’ Benevolent Society, a charity that is dedicated to helping architectural technologists, architects, assistants, technicians, landscape architects - and their families – in times of need. 

Rori is Head of Digital Construction for the Newry based contractor “Felix O’Hare & Co Ltd” and leads the Integrated Project Team through design development and verification stages. One of the main responsibilities of his job is to ensure collaborative working throughout projects and that everyone is working from correct up to date information. His comparable project experience highlighted is the prestigious £30m Southern Regional College Armagh project. 

Rori loves his job, no day is the same! BIM is all about collaboration and he loves interacting with the different roles that it takes to complete a project. He also look after everything to do with IT within the organisation and has a passion for finding innovative ways for completing tasks where processes have remained unchanged for years. There are of course challenges with this, mainly the people so Rori loves it when people are open to new ways of doing things. Solving problems for people gives him great satisfaction.

Gareth is a Chartered Architectural Technologist and a Lecturer and Course Director for the BSc (Hons) Architectural Technology and Management at Ulster University. When he graduated from Ulster, Gareth never imagined he would be back; he has now been working there for over 13 years! As a dedicated and enthusiastic academic, Gareth has a keen interest in Architectural Technology. So many of the university's graduates secure excellent roles in the industry locally and nationally/internationally. Such is the skillset of these graduates, many are leading the way and some have been recognised through various prizes and awards. This is immensely satisfying and makes Gareth proud of their achievements. He believes we all need to play our role in celebrating the success of our discipline and raising the profile of Architectural Technology.

As Lecturer and Course Director, Gareth's role includes a wide variety of activities from course marketing, recruitment and admissions, through to curriculum design, course management, teaching (obviously) and liaising with the External Examiner. He's also run professional training and undertaken an Innovation Voucher. He has a developing involvement in research in Architectural Technology and thermal comfort in buildings (part-time PhD) writing a chapter in a CIAT supported book and presenting at various conferences. Other roles Gareth has fulfilled include acting as external advisor and an external examiner for various academic institutions in the UK and Ireland (including the RIAI).

As Regional Education Officer and Committee Member for CIAT Region 15, he promotes and champions Architectural Technology in Northern Ireland and beyond. He is a Member Panel Assessor for CIAT (from 2015) and a Member of the CIAT Membership Group (from 2016). Gareth is also a founding member of the Board for the International Congress in Architectural Technology (ICAT) and a Scientific Committee member for the International Conference for Sustainable Design of the Built Environment.

He enjoys the variety of activities and opportunities that are open to him in the University, but this can also be challenging in terms of time management. He says ot is really rewarding to recognise how students have developed on their academic journey and to welcome many of them back at a later stage in a professional capacity. As a discipline, Architectural Technology is so stimulating and Gareth relishes contributing to raising the profile in every way he can.

Eóin initially completed a degree in Applied Psychology before he found himself first working in admin with Planning Service and then undertaking an apprenticeship as a trainee Architectural Technologist whilst completing a Foundation Degree study in Architectural Technology at South West College and a BSc [Hons] in Architectural Technology & Management at Ulster University in 2012.

Following graduation, he was keen to develop upon his education and further skills, thus undertaking the lead Associate role in a Knowledge Transfer Partnership [KTP] between Roofscape LTD and South West College involving development and implementation of Building Information Modelling processes under the working service name, PIM Smart, which has since been established as an Architectural Technology Practice in its own right

Officially, Eóin is a Director and Chartered Architectural Technologist within his own CIAT Registered Practice PIM Smart, however, being a small practice, he also needs to be a ‘jack-of-all-trades’ covering surveying, estimating, admin, finance and other general functions. Whilst this can be quite involved, it does give him a more in-depth feel for the business and industry and helps him develop skills beyond his core career.

As an Architectural Technologist, his core work is in commercial technical design, particularly façade design and engineering however he also enjoys working on smaller scale and domestic projects.

The academic/industry knowledge transfer approach from his previous KTP role is something Eóin has been keen to develop on throughout his career and oftens collaborate with SWC and Ulster University on joint projects to develop skills and knowledge which he can take forward in his core role.

Since graduating from the University of Ulster in 1990, Robert Clarke has gained a wide range of experience from a number of design orientated NI based Architectural practices.

Robert has been employed by Hall Black Douglas since 2001 as a senior Chartered Architectural Technologist and has worked primarily on Educational, Healthcare, Residential and Conservation Projects. In 2007, Robert and his wife Michelle relocated to New Zealand for one year whilst continuing to work for Hall Black Douglas remotely

Further to Robert’s enthusiasm for sustainable architecture he recently designed and constructed an innovative energy efficient family home in Donegal to passive house standards. 

David is both a Chartered Architectural Technologist and Chartered Construction Manager and is currently involved in the education and research sector, having prior experience in professional practice. He would describe himself as an innovator who uses technology-enhanced learning to push the boundaries of the architectural technology discipline and its pedagogies. David's career high to date was being awarded a National Teaching Fellowship in 2017, the highest possible accolade for an academic, closely followed by being shortlisted as one of only three finalists for the 2018 Chartered Architectural Technologist of the Year Award. Other achievements include being awarded the Distinguished Teaching Award from Ulster University on two occasions as well as twice receiving recognition at the Northern Ireland Innovation in eLearning Awards. He is currently progressing his PhD studies which relate to the investigation of the potential for digital technologies to link to the BIM process for the purposes of improving build quality.

David is currently a Senior Lecturer on the Architectural Technology and Management programme at Ulster University. In this role his time is divided between his lecturing and research commitments. His current research related to BIM and digital technology integration has provided David with an opportunity to visit numerous cities such as Dubai, Toronto and Vancouver and work with some of the most prestigious research institutions. The role also allows him to attend and present at numerous international conferences, having also sat on a number of conference committees, scientific committees and acted as a reviewer for international journals. Outside of Ulster University, David is the joint CIAT CPD Officer for the Northern Ireland Region and acts as a Professional Interview Assessor for CIAT as well as sitting on the Special Issues Taskforce. He has represented CIAT as a BIM expert and has presented at various conferences, most notably the European BIM Summit. David was privileged to receive an invite to sit on the review panel for the current Architectural Technology Subject Benchmark Statement which shapes the curriculum for AT programmes.

Leo has been a member of CIAT, or SAAT as it was then, for 36 years. He has worked in other practices in his early years and started his own practice in Bangor before forming his current practice in Belfast, where he is a Senior Partner at McLean and Forte Partnership. Leo joined the Regional Committee some 35 years ago. In those days “Technicians” mainly worked for Architects but were never recognised for their talents. He hopes in some small way to have helped in getting those talents recognised to a wider community hence his involvement. 

Leo has always helped in education matters for the Institute locally and nationally and has enjoyed his role as Moderator and Assessor for over 20 years, performing hundreds of interviews UK-wide. He was given the prestigious CIAT Gold Award in 2008 which to this day is a highlight of his career. Presently, he is on the Construction Professional Council Board (CPCNI) and chairs the NIPPPAC Construction Procurement Committee at CPD, Clare House Belfast on behalf of CPCNI.

Leo loves his job and always has! He says every day you face a challenge and at the end of each project you have that great satisfaction of delivery and handover but mostly the reward from Clients of thanks and appreciation for a job well done. Most importantly, it's about having a good team around you whether in work or at CIAT and Leo says he has been very fortunate in having both!

He enjoys travel, food ,long walks (to work off food), cruising, watching Chelsea F.C. win, watching Chelsea lose (his excuse for a visit to the pub to commiserate!). Also, Ireland and Ulster Rugby (an excuse for more Guinness). Leo's main interests lie in playing golf ( in the  sunshine!), being a member of Belvoir G.C Belfast (not so sunny), the Ocean Golf and Country Club Tenerife (very sunny) and working towards retirement (hopefully very soon!)

During John's 32 years with BDP, he has had the good fortune to work on a number of interesting projects: Cecil Ward Belfast City Council HQ; Castlecourt Shopping Centre; George Best Belfast City Airport and Victoria Square basement car-parking; retail & leisure complexes to name a few.

On the final year of the Victoria Square project, he was seconded to the Main Contractor to act as their technical representative on site. This gave him valuable insight into how contractors operate.

He has been a CIAT member since 1981, all the way from SAAT, BIAT and through to CIAT. John joined the Region 15 Committee in 1995, was CPD officer for ten years and had the privilege of being Regional Chair for a number of years. He is currently a member of the Region 15 Documents Taskforce sub-committee.

Having joined architectural practice Architects Knox and Markwell in 2013, John now mainly works on ecclesiastical projects, one off houses, leisure & cultural projects and conservation projects from scheme design through to completion. Recently, he got to work on his first ever thatch roof, a challenge to fit that into the NBS spec clauses.

John enjoys taking projects, particularly problematic ones through to completion and getting positive feedback from client on project competition. He also enjoys technical problem solving especially when involving the other professional disciplines and exploring the use of new construction methods/materials.

Eddie feels a huge sense of honour, privilege and responsibility in representing CIAT and the profession of Architectural Technology.

During his Presidency and longstanding involvement with the Institute, he visited many of the Regions and Centres. At every visit, he was shown innovative practices and has met inspirational people and inspirational members and affiliates. He believes our successes are down in no small part to their energy and determination. Eddie says he met people who are passionate about their work and care deeply about what they do. To further augment this, he says it is important that we recognise the significant roles that our Regional and Centre Committees have to play and their responsibilities in shaping the future of our discipline.

Eddie is also the Principal Partner of Eddie Weir ADP, which since its conception in 1999 has grown into one of the most highly regarded Architectural Practices in Northern Ireland, with many projects throughout Ireland and GB. During much of this time he has served the Northern Ireland Regional Committee and proudly held the position of Regional Chair. He is an Executive Officer of the influential Northern Ireland Construction Group and the previous vice-chair of the Construction Professionals’ Council of Northern Ireland. Eddie was honoured to be a recipient of the prestigious CIAT Gold Award in 2014.

As an Architectural Technology and Management graduate of the Ulster University with over 25 years’ experience in practice, he is frequently invited to deliver presentations regarding Architectural Technology and Architecture to other professional institutes and universities. Eddie continues to represent CIAT on numerous taskforces, councils and committees and speak on behalf of the Institute at Government level and at major-industry events on issues regarding Architectural Technology and the wider industry.