One of the first questions I hear from homeowners thinking about a single/double storey extension is: “What is it likely to cost?” It is a perfectly reasonable thing to want to know before you speak to an architect, approach a builder, or make any kind of commitment. To help with exactly that, I have built […]
May Day, St Joseph – and the Right to Work Here On May Day, the world remembers ordinary workers who fought for fair hours, safe conditions and decent pay. In every generation, the message is the same: work is not just an income; it is about dignity, purpose and the chance to build a life […]
The Island’s Infrastructure Bill: What Was Promised, What It Costs Now, and Why the Clock Never Stops CPD — Continued Prolonged DelaysMoilleadh Leanúnach Fada The Name — And What It Stands For CPD stands for Continued Prolonged Delays — a general acronym chosen to highlight the core issues of cost overrun and delayed delivery in […]
Would the Strangford Lough Crossing Face Regular Closures? Short answer: No — and we now have a working Irish bridge that proves it. Start With the Wind Itself People imagine that a bridge over Strangford Narrows would be battered by wind from every direction, all year round. The reality is more reassuring once you understand […]
To the Detractors: A Bridge Would Not Hollow Out the Villages — It Would Give People More Freedom to Choose Them Introduction Opponents of a Strangford Lough Crossing often repeat the same warning: build a bridge, bypass the villages, and Strangford and Portaferry will lose trade. It sounds plausible on the surface, but it rests […]
Does DfI Apply Its Own Rules Consistently? The Department for Infrastructure uses a standard five-part framework — the DoF Better Business Cases methodology — to assess every significant transport proposal it considers. It is the same framework that underpins the A5 Western Transport Corridor, Northern Ireland’s largest active roads project. We applied that same framework […]
WHY NOT? THE MINISTER ASKED THE RIGHT QUESTION. NOW WE NEED THE ANSWER IN WRITING. On 3 February 2026, Infrastructure Minister Liz Kimmins MLA stood in the Northern Ireland Assembly and, in the course of an Adjournment Debate on the A20 Portaferry Road, said the following about a permanent crossing over Strangford Lough: “If there […]
Stormont is overspending on day‑to‑day services it can’t afford, underspending on the investment money it does have, and overrunning by billions on the projects it actually delivers. That single sentence captures why Northern Ireland’s public finances feel broken – and why “more money from London” on its own will never fix the problem. The detail…. […]
Strangford Lough Crossing: a practical climate and cost solution for everyone For too long, the debate about Strangford Lough Crossing has been trapped in politics. That is a mistake. This is not just a transport question; it is a resilience question, a climate question, and a value-for-money question. The strongest case for a fixed crossing […]
The NI/UK Five Case Model business case process, where the strategic need, broad options, and initial value-for-money case are set out From a layperson view, the Northern Ireland Executive usually treats a requested scheme as a proposal to be tested, not a promise to be built. In the context of SLC www.strangfordloughcrossing.org, SOC stands for Strategic Outline Case.It […]