Brian O’Connell

BArch  BL  MUBC  FRIAI  RIBA  ARB 
Director

Brian O’Connell, Director and founder of the practice has been specialising in the area of healthcare and medical planning for almost 50 years and is an expert in the wider area of strategic planning of hospitals. In 1968 he joined TP Kennedy and Partners, became a partner in 1974, and continued in the subsequent practices of TP Kennedy Brady Stanley O’Connell and Brady Stanley O’Connell. In 1997 he formed Brian O’Connell Associates Architects the precursor to O’Connell Mahon Architects.

Brian graduated from the School of Architecture UCD in 1968 with first class honours; was President of the AAI in 1972; became a member of the RIAI in 1975 and a fellow of the RIAI in 1987; studied law at UCD and Kings Inns and was called to the Bar with first class honours in 1979. As President of the RIAI, 1990-1991, Brian represented Ireland as a founder member of the Architects Council of Europe (ACE), the representative body of the profession in the EU, and was assigned by the ACE to assist in bringing Western European practices to the USSR and Eastern Europe, for which he was made the 39th and last Honorary Member of the Union of Architects of the USSR. Brian is also Arbitrator-Conciliator (RIAI); Mediator (MFI) and Adjudicator (C.I Arb.)

Brian was chairman of the European Commission GAIPEC International Sub-Committee on Liability in the European Construction Industry from 1992 to 1995. As Architect, Master of Building and Urban Conservation (NUI) and Barrister at Law (King’s Inns), Brian is also an Arbitrator and Conciliator in construction and associated matters.

His experience in preparing development plans and strategic studies includes over 30 hospitals throughout the country; Wexford General Hospital; St Luke’s Hospital Kilkenny, MWRH Limerick, MWRH Ennis, NWRH Ennis, University Hospital Galway, the Bon Secours Hospital Group, MRH Tullamore, and many others.

Brian completed his Masters in Building and Urban Conservation in UCD in 2012. He has advised on conservation on a significant number of hospital campuses across the country many of which have protected structures. Conservation projects include works to Ivory’s Blue Coat School, Gandon’s Registry of Deeds, Cassel’s Rotunda Hospital, Johnson’s house and offices 64 Eccles Street, Dublin Central, Oatlands House, Castleknock St. Loman’s Hospital Mullingar and Nenagh Hospital Tipperary.

Brian has lectured to NUI in Contract Management and to the University of Ulster as lecturer on the Law of Disability in Ireland, with particular emphasis on the approach to the implementation of Universal Access standards in buildings.

Victor Lowe

DipArchTech  MRIAI
Director

Following graduation from Bolton Street College DIT in 1989 Victor practised in London and the Middle East before joining the practice in 1993, becoming an Associate Director in 1998, a Director in 2008, and RIAI member in 2011.

Victor Lowe, as both Architect and Architectural Technician, has 20years’ experience in the development of acute healthcare projects and has a highly developed knowledge and understanding of the approach and methodology required for management of projects at construction stage. He has worked at senior level on major projects such as the Limerick MWRH Phases 1 and 2; MRH Tullamore; St. Luke’s Hospital Kilkenny, Wexford General Hospital; Ennis General Hospital Phase 1 and Portiuncula Hospital Ballinasloe.

Victor has also successfully completed current RIAI Health and Safety and PSDP training modules and has considerable experience in Health and Safety in Design as well as PSDP on many healthcare and related projects. He has a particular interest in the resolution of the medical planning solutions with contemporary technical design and is highly regarded by clients for the skill in which he manages contracts and delivers projects.

Victor also has experience in conservation projects including the National Museum of Ireland and O’Connell Street Dublin Central Conservation Project; and also in commercial buildings, providing accommodation for the Legal Aid Board’s Refugee Legal Service and nationwide Legal Aid Board centres.

Donnacha Murphy

BArchSc  DipArch  MRIAI
Director

Donnacha Murphy runs the practice’s Cork office, is a Director and has worked predominately on healthcare projects since he joined OCMA in 2010.

Donnacha graduated from Dublin Institute of Technology in 2002 and has worked on the Development Control Plans for the Bon Secours Health Systems across their campuses in Dublin, Galway, Tralee and Cork and then took on the role of Project Architect for the new North Block Extension, a significant expansion of the Bon Secours Cork Hospital, which has recently reached completion. He was also responsible for the delivery of the expansion to Bon Secours Care Village in 2018 which won an RIAI award for Wellbeing in 2019.

He has also acted as Project Architect for the Extension to the Operating Theatre Department at South Infirmary Victoria Hospital, Cork, and Project Architect on site for the Emergency Department extension at Kerry General Hospital as well as D&B lead architect to BAM for the delivery of Mental Health Units in CUH and Killarney. In 2015 Donnacha was appointed associate director in OCMA and Director in 2021.

Donnacha  previously worked with Carr, Cotter & Naessens Architects in Cork, where he gained experience in master planning, mixed-use and educational projects including the Solas Clinical Studies Building, Institute of Technology, Tralee, and the Grainstore Office Development, Limerick (RIAI Award 2007).

Clare White

BArchSc  DipArch  MRIAI
Director

Clare has over 20 year’s post-registration experience working as a lead architect on a wide range of healthcare, trasnsport and education building and design projects in Ireland in the private and public sector. She has extensive strategic design expertise gained through her experience of leading large complex projects. She is a natural leader, an excellent communicator and enjoys the creative challenge of managing and motivating a team. Clare joined O’Connell Mahon Architects as Senior Architect in April 2010.  She was appointed as Associate Director in 2012 and a Director in 2014.

She is director in charge for OCMA and Employers Representative on the New Children’s Hospital project in collaboration with BDP Architects, a €900 m project she has been involved in since its inception. with particular focus on Contract Administration, user consultation, procurement and strategic team leadership. She was director in charge of the Mercers Institute for Successful Aging (MISA), which won the RIAI Best Health Building Award 2017 and worked on the design development of the North-West Cancer Centre, Altnagelvin, Derry a cross border project which won The NHS Healthcare Design Award at the European Healthcare Design Awards 2017. Key to these projects has been strong leadership and collaboration with multidisciplinary design teams, client teams and user groups.

Experience in transport infrastructure projects includes delivery of a series of buildings and infrastructure for the Luas and the design of above ground stations for the DART Underground project and provision of Expert Witness Services to the Oral Hearing for same.

Previously Clare spent 13 years working with Murray O’ Laoire Architects where she worked on a range of projects including the Centre for Nurse Education for UCD and the Mater Hospital, Student Centres in Dundalk IT and UCD, A FAS training centre in Tallaght and an Informatics Building for the University of Limerick.

Clare is currently a member of Council in the RIAI and former Vice President of the RIAI from Jan 2018 to Dec 2019. In this time she was involved in a Council working group on Procurement, was a member of the Registration Board and was on the Board of Architectural Education.

Rozalind Murphy

BArch  MRIAI  RIBA  ARB

Director

 

Rozalind Murphy, is a Director and has worked on numerous healthcare projects since she joined OCMA in 1997. Roz is an accomplished architect, excellent design team leader and has particular skills in Healthcare Planning. She has recently completed a Masters (MSc) in Planning Buildings for Health in the Southbank University, Medical Architecture Research Unit, the only course of its type in Europe.

In addition to having excellent knowledge of healthcare planning from macro to micro levels Roz has direct experience of significant scale healthcare projects. She has led the clinical design of the theatre department which includes 22 Theatres and procedure rooms, the 60 bed ICU and the 2,600sqm net Pathology Departments of The National Children’s Hospital. She has also assisted with consolidation of the briefing information for the National Maternity Hospital at St Vincent’s Hospital Campus, was clinical lead for the North-West Cancer Centre in Altnagelvin and has led the clinical design of the Bon Secours North Block development in Cork which was recently completed.

After completing her MSc. Course, Roz has taken an interest in assisting in the development of briefing documents for healthcare facilities. She has brought a not only a healthcare planning specialism to the task, but also a deep understanding of the spatial needs of healthcare facilities. This creates a brief that is focussed for the team of people who will design and implement the brief requirements and allows the Project Team to explore and set out their strategic and key design aspirations before a Design Team is appointed.

Roz is also Lead Architect on the University Hospital Limerick Acute Ward Block, which is currently in the planning phase and over the years at OCMA has been project architect and/or interiors architect on a number of major hospital projects including the Rotunda Hospital NICU; St. John’s Community Hospital Enniscorthy; Bons Secours Cork; Kerry General Hospital A+E Department; Mayo General Hospital, and at the Mater and Children’s Hospital.