Author: Kevin Barry BSc(Hons) MRICS

NI Planning Performance 2025/26 — A Practical Guide for ArchitectsRanked by processing speed, approval rates and major application throughput. All 11 council areas covered. Data: DfI/NISRA Q3 2025/26. By QUINTIN QS 1 Introduction Planning permission is the first constraint on every project. Before a design is agreed, before a contractor is appointed, before a foundation […]

Northern Ireland’s infrastructure record speaks for itself: schemes routinely run late and over budget, and the usual response is tighter cost control. That response misses the point. Standard Benefit-Cost Ratio (BCR) appraisals, while rigorous, do not capture what a delayed hospital, a stalled data centre corridor, or an unbuilt water treatment works actually costs the […]

Northern Ireland in Solution Mode: What If the Executive Is No Longer “Too Big to Fail”? Northern Ireland does not simply have an infrastructure problem. It has a growing problem of financial credibility, fragmented responsibility and confidence in the Executive’s ability to take difficult decisions and deliver them. For four consecutive years, exceptional Treasury support […]

Compiled from Department for Infrastructure (DfI) Northern Ireland Planning Statistics, 2016/17–2024/25. Published 15 July 2026. Every three months, the Department for Infrastructure quietly publishes a set of numbers that shape whether homes get built, whether businesses can expand, and how long ordinary people wait to hear back on an extension or a new build. Pulled […]

No Minister, No Business Case, No Rulebook: What DfI’s Own Paperwork Just Told Us Regular readers will know we’ve made the economic case for an independent feasibility study more times than we can count. This time, we’re not arguing about money. We’re pointing at the Department’s own filing cabinet. A Freedom of Information response landed […]

Cutting Casement to 15–20k Capacity: Why It Sounds Sensible — But Probably Isn’t UPDATED – July 2026 (original post 27 February 2026) UPDATE – 4 July 2026: The Seats-for-Terracing Swap – Regional in Name Only? An update to yesterday’s post: “Cutting Casement to 15–20k Capacity: Why It Sounds Sensible — But Probably Isn’t” (updated 3 […]

Procura — Coming Soon Tendering is broken. Not dramatically. Just quietly, expensively, and every single day. A builder phones three groundworks firms. One doesn’t answer. One sends a price on a Post-it. One emails a figure with no breakdown and the word “circa” in front of it. The builder picks the middle one and hopes […]

Public Infrastructure Delay in the British Isles — What the Data Tells Us Across the British Isles, public infrastructure projects are not just running late — they are running late at enormous and measurable cost to the public. From Northern Ireland, to the comparator, New South Wales, the pattern is consistent: political uncertainty, procurement failures, […]

Shetland Digs In. Strangford Still Waits for a Study. How a £1.5 billion island tunnel programme exposes the £250,000 question Stormont will not answer Strangford Lough Crossing Campaign  |  www.strangfordloughcrossing.org On Tuesday 30 June 2026, Shetland Islands Council was expected to back a draft strategy for one of the most ambitious fixed-link programmes in these […]

CPD — Continued Prolonged Delays Update Report: 30 June 2026 Eight Weeks On — What Has Changed Published: 30 June 2026 | Previous report: 5 May 2026 | Author: Kevin Barry BSc(Hons) MRICS | Category: Latest News The CPD register is a live document. Since the May 2026 launch post, the dashboards have been updated […]