Do you design the interiors as well as the building?

We do, and we also work alongside an operator's own hotel interior designer while we hold the technical and statutory side. Either arrangement works. What matters is that someone is thinking about the interior while the structure and the services can still be moved.

Can you work on a protected structure in the city centre?

Yes. A fair share of the best hospitality buildings in Cork are protected, particularly around the Victorian Quarter and MacCurtain Street. It takes a conservation-led justification for every intervention and it takes longer than a plain fit-out. It is entirely doable.

What actually changes between four-star and five-star?

Area and servicing, mostly — not finishes. Five star hotel design needs larger bedrooms and bathrooms, more circulation and a deeper back of house to support round-the-clock service, usually with leisure or event space planned as its own building inside the building. Four star hotel design is tighter and there is real skill in getting it right. The business plan decides, not ambition.

How long before we can open?

Longer than most operators budget for. Planning is eight weeks where nothing further is requested, and on hospitality applications something usually is. Add design time before it and the Fire Safety Certificate and Disability Access Certificate after it. Six to nine months from first meeting to site start is a fair assumption.

Do you work outside Cork?

Yes, across Munster and nationally where the project suits.

COMMERCIAL ARCHITECTS IN CORK

Healy Butler Moffat has run its architect service in Cork from MacCurtain Street since 2005, and commercial design has been part of the work from the start. Office design, office refurbishment, hotels, care homes and industrial buildings. Every one of them has a landlord, a tenant or an operator who needs the building to pay its way. We designed around that from the first meeting. A commercial building that looks well but costs too much to run is still a problem for whoever owns it.

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Office design that lets

Depth, core position and column grid decide how much of a floor a tenant can really use. We test those early, with the structural and M&E engineers in the same BIM model. That way the lettable area on the drawings still holds up when an agent comes in to measure.

Office refurbishment without the surprises

Older buildings hide things: low ceilings, tired services, and fire separation that no longer meets the regulations. We survey first and design second. Most office refurbishment projects need a fire safety certificate before work starts, so we plan for it from the first sketch.

Design and build, done properly

On design and build contracts we can prepare the employer’s requirements, take the design to tender, or move across to the contractor’s team. Whichever route you pick, the planning permission and the finish you were promised stay protected.

A bar, restaurant and rooms rebuilt from the inside

At The Village in Douglas we carried out a full interior renovation of the bar, restaurant, toilets and hotel rooms. We kept key existing features to hold costs down. A repeated half-moon curve gives the place a high-end feel without high-end spending. It shows how good commercial design can lift an existing building without starting again. The owners called it a very challenging job and said afterwards they would not hesitate to recommend us.

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Customer Review

Who we design for

Our commercial clients are developers, landlords, owner-occupiers, hotel groups, nursing home operators and manufacturers. Some arrive with planning granted and a contractor lined up. Others have a building in Cork City and a feeling it could earn more. Most architect firms in Cork City see the first type. We tend to add more value with the second. Recent examples include the Kiltegan Foyer at Rochestown Park Hotel and nursing homes in Greystones and Crumlin.

OFFICE DESIGN & REFURBISHMENT

HOTEL & HOSPITALITY

CARE & RESIDENTIAL

Questions we get asked

Most first conversations cover the same ground. Here is the short version.

Start with the RIAI register. “Architect” is a protected title in Ireland, and you can check any practice on the RIAI website in about a minute. We are registered, number 05028. Then ask to see completed commercial buildings like yours, and ask who will actually run the job. Architecture firms in Cork vary a lot in size. At Healy Butler Moffat, the partners stay directly involved from first sketch to handover.
For a paint and carpet job, no. Once you move walls, change escape routes, add floor space or change how the building is used, you will usually need a Fire Safety Certificate and a Disability Access Certificate. You may need planning permission too. An architect handles those applications and does the office design around them so you aren’t redrawing later.
Yes. Under design and build, the contractor takes on design responsibility, so the brief has to be clear before tender. We can write the employer’s requirements and check that what gets built matches them. We can also carry the design up to tender and then move across to the contractor’s team. Tell us early which route you prefer, because it changes how detailed the tender drawings need to be.
Yes. Our office is on MacCurtain Street, but our projects run across Munster and the rest of Ireland. Recent work includes Blackwater Community College in Lismore, the 16-bed block at University Hospital Limerick and nursing homes in Wicklow and Dublin.

Start a conversation

Whatever the building – a clinical department, a school, an office, a house or a hotel – the first step is the same: a conversation about what you're trying to do and whether it stacks up. We're based on MacCurtain Street in Cork and work across Munster and the rest of Ireland.