Details
1-day course
CPD Credit: 7 hours; Competence/s: 2
Course Delivery Options
Urban infrastructure must adapt to climate change, rapid technological advancement and rising expectations around health, wellbeing and quality of life. Nature-based solutions (NbS) offer a powerful, place-specific approach to enhancing climate resilience—addressing flood risk, heat stress and environmental degradation while working with natural systems and local geography. Building on a landmark 2024 collaborative workshop involving Ireland’s five leading professional bodies in the NbS arena, this course draws on cross-sector expertise and the resulting national guidance to support planners, engineers, designers and decision-makers in the effective implementation of urban NbS.
Programme Structure and Delivery
This programme will consist of 4 1-Day modules. The programme consists of three core themes structured on Plan - Module One, Do - Module Two and Module Three, and Review - Module Four. Attendees are recommended to attend Module 1 & 4 as a minimum, with a further two modules of the remaining set to suit their interest.
This course provides a structured introduction to NbS concepts and progressively develops participants’ capability through the full design and delivery lifecycle, increasing in technical complexity at each stage. It equips practitioners with practical tools, strategies and guidance to manage risk, navigate statutory processes and deliver improved outcomes for both the environment and infrastructure projects.
The programme introduces the design and delivery of place-based urban infrastructure founded on nature-based principles. It follows a typical project lifecycle, guiding participants on how to identify, respond to and manage evolving conditions as projects progress.
Key themes include:
- The need for urban infrastructure evolution
- Understanding and analysing the physical environment
- Stakeholder identification and engagement
- Translating briefs into concepts
- Iterative design development and technical integration
- Detailed design tools and methods
- Construction delivery and oversight
- Operations, maintenance and performance
- Case studies, networking and cross-disciplinary collaboration
Programme Objectives
Depending on modules attended, participants will gain:
- An understanding of the value and benefits of NbS in urban infrastructure.
- Skills to appraise site conditions and develop viable NbS concepts.
- Technical insight into hydrological, geological and geographic drivers.
- Knowledge of statutory processes and consent pathways.
- Awareness of regulatory standards and compliance requirements.
- Practical examples of NbS integration in engineering projects.
- Understanding of post-construction performance, maintenance and risk management.
Although the course is intended to be cross-disciplinary and interested attendees are welcome to join all four modules, some modules may be more discipline-specific than others.
- Module 1 : From Brief to Concept - Designing with Nature
- Module 2: From Concept to Outline Design: Friday
- Module 3: Detailed Design - Tools, Standards & Methodology
- Module 4: Post-Construction, Maintenance & Stewardship
Module 4: Post-Construction, Maintenance & Stewardship
This module will be of benefit to Local Authority engineers, planners, landscape architects, operational staff and project managers.
The module will include a visit to and Review of Whitefriars Greening Phase 01 (completed), a walk to Portobello Harbour and Review of Portobello Harbour (under construction).
Key Themes
- Why NbS “feel risky” operationally
- Maintenance myths vs reality
- Organisational silos and late engagement
- The critical role of “ultimate keepers”
- Building confidence through demonstrators
Sessions
- Context & Barriers – Why schemes fail or succeed
- Lifecycle Mapping – Where value is lost and how to protect it
- Irish Case Studies – Lessons from practice
- Future Stewardship – Five principles for long-term success
Workshop – Taking-in-Charge Ready Design
Participants produce a Taking-in-Charge-ready outline brief that:
- Aligns with Development Plans
- Identifies operational responsibilities
- Anticipates risks and public perception
- Defines monitoring and success criteria
Focus of Landscape Architect Module:
Multi-functional soil - right soil / right plants / right place
- Pollutant tolerance planting
- How to balance plant health and water storage
- Integrating biodiversity value
How NbS can anchor social value interventions
- Natural buffer/wayfinding
- Alignment with accessibility best practice
- Multi-functional spaces
Learning Outcomes
Each participant leaves with:
- Practical design artefacts (briefs, maps, frameworks)
- A Taking-in-Charge Readiness Checklist
- A shared NbS vocabulary across disciplines
- Increased confidence in delivering compliant, resilient NbS schemes
Who Should Attend?
The programme is designed for professionals involved in planning, designing, delivering, and managing urban infrastructure, i.e. Engineers, Architects, Ecologists, Landscape Architects and Planners. It promotes cross-disciplinary collaboration across the public, private, and third sectors.
Trainers' Profiles
Daibhí Mac Domhnaill MILI, Director, Áit Urbanism + Landscape. An Urban Designer and Landscape Architect with over twenty five years of career experience. In 2009 Daibhí founded Áit Urbanism and Landscape. The Áit approach to design is driven by a strong understanding of ecological processes and a grounded appreciation of human nature. Áit seek to achieve projects that successfully deliver functional robustness, interactivity, human comfort, joy, visual delight and longevity. Áit have won numerous Awards for Design and Planning; in areas such as Placemaking, Biodiversity, Active Travel, Public Realm Design, Greening Strategies, Housing and Planting Design. The Weaver Park project by Áit was the inaugural winner of the CBRE Excellence in Place Making Award 2018. In 2024 Áit were awarded the ILI Presidents Awards for the Belgooly National School project.
From 2016 - 2022 Daibhí worked with Cairn Homes as Head of Landscape and Urban Design; providing input and insight into the housing delivery journey from fallow lands to completion and handover. During this time Cairn Homes delivered over 5,000 new homes in the Greater Dublin Area and were recognised with multiple awards for the quality of place making and planning. In 2021 under Daibhí’s guidance Cairn adopted Biodiversity as a pillar of the companies ESG Policy and are to this day have continued to roll out a Biodiversity Net Gain Strategy across the company portfolio. Daibhí worked as an Urban Designer for Murray Ó Laoire Architects from 2002-2007. Daibhí occasionally guest tutors on the Urban Design and Planning programme at University College Dublin.
Stephen O'Malley is a Founding Director & Chief Executive of Civic, and a member of Taoiseach’s Dublin City Taskforce. Recognising that the quality of our built environment is intrinsically linked to the wellbeing of our natural surroundings, Stephen champions striving for excellence and harmonising with nature to develop climatically resilient spaces that enhance lives and provide enriching experiences for our communities. As a Dubliner, he is passionate about urban infrastructure and sets about his work aiming to engineer less, reaching first for nature-based solutions and applying these principles with a high degree of emotional intelligence, with projects including College Green Dame Street Public Realm and contributing to Ireland’s National Transport Authority SuDS Guidance. This creative and inclusive system thinking approach sets Civic apart and has seen Stephen recognised as an industry expert in his field. He is also an ICE Policy Fellow, an Architecture & Design Scotland Panellist, Fellow at the Landscape Institute in the UK, Institute Member of the Academy of Urbanism, a Design Council Associate and NLA Sounding Board member.
Alex Shipp, Head of Design, Meristem Design
Engineers Ireland supports the Sustainable Development Goals. This event contributes to Engineers Ireland's Sustainability Framework.
Please contact the CPD Training Team for further information on scheduled course dates.