Business Commons^™

Employment, Remuneration And Workplace Report 2023, Roisin Murphy Dr

Reports

This report follows the previously published “Employment Opportunities and Future Skills Requirements for Surveying Professionals, 2018-2021” in which a significant shortage of property, land and construction professionals was projected. The current research has been undertaken against a backdrop of economic uncertainty due largely to Brexit, Covid-19 and the war in Ukraine.

The Irish economy rebounded well following the Covid-19 pandemic with low unemployment, moderate economic growth and solid Exchequer balances forecast in the medium term. On the downside, price inflation, fueled by soaring energy costs, have resulted in interest rates rising for the first time in over a decade which …

Sustainable Development In The Surveying Profession, Roisin Murphy Dr

Reports

The built environment sector provides the homes, workplaces, amenities and infrastructure to support everyday activity, and is a key contributor to economic growth and employment, but also to emissions and resource use. Construction, land and property surveyors are engaged throughout the built environment lifecycle and therefore, are uniquely positioned to lead and accelerate the transformational change required to ensure a sustainable built environment. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) provide a blueprint exhibiting social, economic and environmental goals to be considered as a system of interrelated objectives. Attainment of the SDGs requires a global approach, which is entrenched in …

Irish Agricultural Land Sales And Rental Prices, Frank Harrington

Articles

There have been many commentaries on the Irish agricultural land market, but regrettably for those of us interested in it there have been limited reliable data to test our theories. Given the importance of agriculture to the Irish economy and society, it is surprising how little reliable primary data exists about the Irish agricultural land market. To help address this lack of data the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI) and Teagasc are publishing a 50-year dataset of agricultural land sales and rentals to complement the SCSI member survey data.

The Impact Of Regulation On The Property Services Sector In Ireland, Roisin Murphy

Reports

This report was commissioned by the Property Services Regulatory Authority (PSRA) as an independent investigation of the impact of regulation on Property Service Providers (PSPs) in Ireland.

The number of licensees has increased on an annual basis since the establishment of the Authority; however until now the impact of regulation on PSPs in Ireland is unexplored thus prompting this research.

Data was collected from licensees nationwide in two phases; an online survey administered in August 2018 yielding a 25% response rate (1,207 usable responses received) and a number of semi-structured interviews with PSPs representing each category of licence holder. A …

Service Charge Collection In Multi-Unit Developments, Adele Mckeown, Lorcan Sirr

Articles

Multi-unit developments (MUDs) – typically developments of apartments, or apartments and houses, but also sometimes including a commercial component – differ from traditional housing as they have three distinct characteristics: individual ownership of a unit, shared ownership of common property, and collective membership of a corporate body that assumes responsibility for the management of the development (Christudason, 2004). In the Irish case, this corporate body is known as the owners’ management company (OMC). The legal framework for ownership in MUDs is based on leasehold, which means that the purchaser owns the property but not the land on which it is …

Introduction, Lorcan Sirr

Articles

Over many decades, it has been rare for a week to pass without housing-related issues being close to, or at, the top of news and political agendas. As everybody has to live somewhere, housing – and its related elements of property, building, planning and finance – is a topic in which everybody has both a stake and an opinion. It is the most personal of subjects – in many respects, our housing shapes our lives.

Improving Engagement Of Construction Industry Firms In Apprenticeship Training In A Post-Recession Economy, Eoghan Ó Murchadha, Roisin Murphy

Conference papers

The Irish economy is currently experiencing a recovery phase following a ‘lost decade’ of growth due to the severe economic downturn of 2007. While the construction industry in Ireland is recording increased output, and improving rates of employment, in the vital economic and labour market sector of apprenticeship there is a significant lack of engagement. Without employer buy-in to apprenticeship training, there exists potential future skills gaps and lack of efficacy of the construction industry. This increasingly likely possibility is disquieting, not just for the possible impact upon the future of apprenticeship but also for the Irish economy as a …

The Evolution Of Ethics In The Irish Real Estate Profession, Lorna Colley, Lloyd Scott

Conference papers

Since the Economic Collapse of 2008 much discussion and analysis of the role of ethics in the financial sector in Ireland has occurred. However little if any of this focus has been on the real estate profession. The purpose of this paper is to examine how the Irish Real Estate Profession deals with the issue of ethics. How has this relationship evolved over time? Has the Irish political context influenced the approach to ethics on a societal level and has this fed into the profession’s approach? The role of ethics education is also examined in current Irish real estate qualifications, …

Surveying Labour Market Trends: A Demand And Supply Analysis Of The Quantity Surveying Profession In Ireland, Roisin Murphy

Conference papers

The construction and property sectors in Ireland have undergone significant change over the past decade. From a period of sustained growth in output and employment to a recession returning to the current period of expansion. While the cyclical nature of the sector and consequential impact on the labour market is widely recognized, the impact on the quantity surveying profession specifically is comparatively less well evidenced. A widespread survey of employers was undertaken to ascertain recent employment trends and likely future demand for quantity surveyors. At the same time an analysis of current enrolments on surveying programmes across the country provided …

Predicting Intake Of Applications For First Registration In The Property Registration Authority, Orlaith Mernagh

Dissertations

The motivation for this dissertation is rooted in a real business need. The Property Registration Authority is the state organisation tasked with maintaining a register of land ownership on the island of Ireland. The PRA currently faces a series of challenges; a high level of staff retiring and the inherent loss of knowledge associated with this trend, a lack of recruitment in recent years and a large increase in lodgement of applications for first registration as a result of legislation. The organisation therefore requires a reliable system for predicting future intake. Prior to this project, there has also been a …

Rent Certainty Is Not Rent Control, Tom Dunne

Reports

The housing crisis and the debate about rent control should result in a beneficial change to the regulation of the sector but the opportunity could be lost for want of clarity of thinking about the nature of rent certainty and the distinction between it and rent control. At present rent is regulated by the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 (RTA 2004) which provides that rent can only change once a year and cannot be more than the market rent. Many argue a greater degree of rent certainty is required and that rent should not be allowed to increase by more than …

Renting Trouble: Current Government Policy Of Relying On The Private Rented Sector To Deliver Social Housing Is Unlikely To Succeed, Tom Dunne

Reports

A review of the history of housing in Ireland shows that owner occupancy and social housing were policy choices by successive governments. Owner occupancy was heavily supported through a system of grants and tax breaks and social housing was directly provided through local authorities at subsidised rents. In recent years policy has changed and tenure neutrality is now guiding the government’s attitude to housing. This is a significant change which has not been sufficiently discussed and has consequences which are not appreciated. Relying on the market to provide rental housing for people on low incomes and who may be in …

Renting In Ireland, Lorcan Sirr

Books/Book Chapters

As part of the overall housing sector, renting has seen a considerable increase in the first 14 years of the twenty-first century. Numbers renting are now similar to those of the 1950s, when Ireland was a very different place economically and socially. Today renting is driven by forces ranging from necessity to choice to ongoing urbanisation: it is becoming the tenure of preference for many, while remaining the tenure for others with no choice. Governing legislation, providers of rental accommodation and the various rental sectors’ economic value and importance are all in flux. The traditional divide between state-supplied social housing …

Words Worth Price And Value, Tom Dunne

Articles

TOM DUNNE explains the terms used in relation to the valuation of property, and the need for common understanding among all parties using those terms. -

Link Levy To Services- Not Urban Middle Class Assets, Tom Dunne

Articles

Paying any tax is an unwelcome burden, but in Ireland many have a particular aversion to taxes on their homes. We are not alone in this. Elsewhere, taxes on homes are also unpopular; witness the People's Initiative to Limit Property Taxation which forced the California state government to cut property taxes. Nevertheless, residential property taxes remain an almost universal feature of developed countries because of compelling economic arguments for them. Also, local property taxes are regarded as the best means of funding local government.

Rarely, it seems to me, is there such a distance between what the public wants and …

Strategic Planning In Construction Professional Service Firms: A Study Of Irish Qs Practices, Roisin Murphy

Articles

The role and usefulness of strategic planning has been documented over several decades of strategic management research. Despite the significant body of existing knowledge in the field of strategic planning, there remains limited empirical investigation of the construction sector, specifically professional service firms operating within it. The construction sector is hugely important to the Irish economy, yet until now, no empirical investigation has been undertaken to determine the strategic planning process in construction professional service firms in Ireland. A two-phase mixed methods study was undertaken to ascertain the extent of strategic planning within quantity surveying (QS) practices in Ireland. Characteristics …

The Riai Standard Form Of Contract 2012 Edition: A Review, Tony Cunningham

Other Resources

The RIAI ‘yellow’ and ‘blue’ Forms of Contracts have been recently amended and published as the 2012 edition. The yellow form where quantities form part of the contract is identical to the 2011 edition and has been republished as the 2012 edition. The 2011 version superseded the 2002 version. This paper reviews and synopsises the provisions of the 2012 RIAI ‘yellow’ form of contract and identifies the principle changes to the 2002 edition.

Sensitivity Studies Of A Low Temperature Low Approach Direct Cooling Tower For Building Radiant Cooling Systems, Medhi Nasrabadi, Donal Finn, Ben Costelloe

Conference Papers

Recent interest in cooling towers as a mechanism for producing chilled water, together with the evolution of radiant cooling, have prompted a review of evaporative cooling in temperate maritime climates. The thermal efficiency of such systems is a key parameter, as a measure of the degree to which the system has succeeded in exploiting the cooling potential of the ambient air. The feasibility of this concept depends largely however, on achieving low approach water temperatures within an appropriate cooling tower, at acceptable levels of energy performance. Previous experimental work for a full scale evaporative cooling system has shown that it …

Avoiding The Mistakes Of The Past, Tom Dunne

Articles

Tom Dunne explores the long term drivers of dysfunction in Ireland's housing markets and what a more sustainable housing system would look like.

Mathematical Modelling Of A Low Approach Evaporative Cooling Process For Space Cooling In Buildings, Medhi Nasrabadi, Donal Finn, Ben Costelloe

Conference Papers

This paper describes a mathematical model of a low approach open evaporative cooling tower for the production of high temperature indirect cooling water (14-16°C) for use in building radiant cooling and displacement ventilation systems. There are several potential approaches to model evaporative cooling, including: the Poppe method, the Merkel method and the effectiveness-NTU (ε-NTU) method. A common assumption, applied to the Merkel and ε-NTU methods, is that the effect of change in tower water mass flow rate due to evaporation is ignored, which results in a simpler model with reduced computational requirements, but with somewhat decreasedaccuracy. In this paper, a …

Tax Facts, Tom Dunne

Articles

Tom Dunne Clarifies the issues surrounding different forms of property tax

Dublin's Future: New Visions For Ireland's Capital City, Lorcan Sirr

Books/Book Chapters

This is a book about the future of Dublin. Its authors, styles, interests and of course visions are diverse and sometimes divergent. They represent the range of competing voices, dreams, influences and ideas that weave together in a constant battle of power, persuasion, aspiration and occasionally co-operation which en mass determine the future of any cit. Each individual chapter, not only in content, but also in style, is a reflection of the way different people and groups perceive the future and how it may be determined.

Grade Inflation In The School Of Real Estate And Construction Economics, Dermot Kehily

Articles

No abstract provided.

Site Value Tax, Tom Dunne

Articles

Tom Dunne discusses some of the issues surrounding property taxation in Ireland

Solving The Problem Of Toxic Property And Construction Loans- The Case Of Ireland's National Asset Management Agency., Thomas Power

Conference papers

Ireland experienced rapid economic growth between 1994 and 2004. This economic performance prompted the Economist magazine to coin the phrase ‘The Celtic Tiger’ to describe the Irish experience. However, during the ‘boom period’ banks did not have enough funds from deposits and had to rely on the inter-bank market for funds. Consequently with the collapse of the sub-prime market and the global banking crisis, the banking systems reliance on inter-bank lending resulted in toxic property and construction loans. In essence the property/construction bubble burst, the banks are broke and there is a need to rescue them. The government’s solution …

Nama Versus Nationalization – How To Deal With The Banks’ Toxic Loans?, Thomas Power

Articles

Banks are indispensible to the efficient functioning of the economy. Right now they are unable to carry out their normal functions (e.g. providing lines of credit to individuals and business) because they are underfunded. They are rationing credit because they do not have enough funds. The funds they need to lend to borrowers come from deposits, equity and bonds. During the ‘boom period’ banks did not have enough funds from deposits and had to rely on the inter-bank market to borrow the funds they needed in order to lend. According to the Central Bank ‘net foreign liabilities’ of commercial banks …

Lessons For Nama From Valuation Practices, Thomas Power

Other Resources

By adopting accounting values and not economic value, auctioneers and valuers contribute to property market inefficiency. The reaction to this global financial and real asset meltdown is for tighter regulation. But the difficulties now being experienced in global asset markets are not new– it’s just that it is much bigger. The common denominator is accounting based valuations.

From Corporate Social Responsibility To Corporate Responsible Behaviour: A Futures Approach: Proposing A New Conceptual And Operational Framework To Foster Responsibility Within The Commercial Property Industry, Gillian O'Brien

Doctoral

This research examines corporate responsible behaviour (CRB) and the role of Futures Studies, as both a philosophy and a critical research methodology in fostering a culture of responsibility within the commercial property industry in the UK. More specific objectives are to critically evaluate CRB and its role in business; to explore the potential role, effects and implications of futures in the development of CRB policy and practice; to propose an integrative conceptual and operational framework for guiding the commercial property industry in formulating systematic, executable CRB policies and practices; and to build a set of propositions that may influence the …

Lessons For Nama From Valuation Practices, Thomas Power

Articles

By adopting accounting values and not economic value, auctioneers and valuers contribute to property market inefficiency. The reaction to this global financial and real asset meltdown is for tighter regulation. But the difficulties now being experienced in global asset markets are not new– it’s just that it is much bigger. The common denominator is accounting based valuations.

Dublin 7., Irish Independent Newspaper

Media

Proximity to the new DIT campus at Grangegorman is one of the principal attractions of a new development which goes on view for the first time tomorrow between 2-4pm.