Claire Naughton

Dublin
University College Dublin, BA (Hons) Geography & MSc Regional and Urban Planning

Every day is different and there really isn’t a 'typical' day. We follow Claire as she makes a visit to assess the viability of a site on behalf of one of the Dublin office's clients.

8.30am Left Dublin with another Assistant Planner from the office and headed for the town where our client's proposed retail development site is located.  Arrived and discussed our approach to the site assessment.

9.30am My colleague began assessing all retail units in the town by pacing their width and depth, mapping their location on the zoning map and taking a note of how busy/popular they seemed to be. I headed for the Local Planning Authority offices to search for the planning history of the site for the proposed development and its surrounding area.

12:30pm Grabbed a sandwich - hunger takes over!

1.00pm Rejoined my colleague, took some photos of the town, surveyed the condition of the retail units, and drove to the outskirts of the town to survey the larger retail units located outside the core retail area.

3.00pm My colleague and I visited the actual site of the proposed development and assessed the condition of the land, taking note of any significant topographical issues such as flooding, hedgerows, streams and differing land levels. We also noted the surrounding buildings, land-uses and their proximity to the site.

4.30pm Drove back to the Local Planning Authority offices to pick up some files.

5.00pm Took one more drive around the town centre and the periphery of the town to ensure that we hadn’t missed anything, and noted anything of significance.

5.30pm Left the town and headed back to Dublin in time to catch a film with my friends at the cinema.