Deirdre Purcell - Author / Broadcaster

“As an architect, Paul Mulhern took on a very tricky project for me at the above address, a Seventies terraced house on a long narrow site in a housing estate. This was a house that had been lived in wisely for a while but latterly not too well.   My brief to him was to illuminate what had become a murky, dark, cramped and very dilapidated property by creating a space filled with light and air. I also wanted him to bring it up to modern standards of insulation, wiring and plumbing, and thereby making snug what had been damp and cold.   

On such a site, the brief seemed impossible and when I led him into the property in its original condition, I expected him to be daunted, even to refuse to have anything to do with it, but his reaction was immediately to see it as a challenge.   And how brilliantly he overcame that challenge! While remaining aware of my budget, the design he produced involved gutting the entire house and opening it up to light from the roof, via three voids. The result is the fulfilment of my own dream, the testament to which is the steady stream of neighbours arriving on various pretexts but with the obvious aim of being invited in.   

Throughout the construction vicissitudes (and there were many, none of his making) he remained steadily supportive to me in what was a very difficult and long process. I cannot praise him highly enough for his tenacity, his concentration on what was best for the house and for me as a client - and not least for his calm tact.  His professionalism and collaborative spirit are outstanding but overarching all of the above, his creativity and vision were and are superb”.

NMCD - Chief Executive / Director

I have nothing but high commendations for Paul – He is doing a fairly significant project for us where, in effect, we are rebuilding an old abandoned farmhouse right next to where my Dad and Grandad were born & raised (outside Oldcastle on the Meath-Cavan-Westmeath border).  He is thoroughly competent in his field as well as professional in all aspects of his work – tremendous attention to detail which is what I like – and has a nice way about him.

About 10-12 years ago we did a sizable renovation on our old house in the U.S.  I was lucky to find a very competent young architect called Chris who produced a very clear set of drawings reflecting our wishes…. the builder we chose told me during the project that they were the clearest set of drawings that he ever had, which was nice to hear as I was travelling a lot in those days, and my wife was left to make several decisions without me.  Paul’s architectural drawings (and his detailed specifications later on after we got planning permission) are comparable to Chris’s but to the power of two…. and I’ve (almost never) had to second-guess him.

One other little element of relevance is that my wife cannot abide any kind of pushy salesmanship…. and she has taken a real liking to Paul…. which speaks for itself…. as that’s a very important consideration when heading into a sizable project of this nature!

“…. and within 20 minutes of that meeting I knew that Paul was “our man” …”

AMM - Corporate Foundation Officer

I can say without any hesitation that it has been a pleasure working with Paul Mulhern on our recent build.  We engaged Paul as our architect to help design, plan and build our single story extension to the back and side of our semi-detached home in Lucan.

From the first communication with Paul he was engaged with the project.  He was very easy to deal with and had a lovely relaxed manner throughout the project, which helped during some of the more stressful moments as happens with all builds.  He talked us through our priorities, listened to our brief, presented us with options and came up with a design that managed to get us everything that we wanted and more. 

The reason we engaged an architect was that we wanted a well-designed extension that would get the most light in as possible, and would get the most out of the limited space that we had to build on. We got exactly that – an extended kitchen/living area, study/come spare bedroom, utility and shower room.

Paul was so helpful in offering advice and information all throughout the project. He was always available to discuss, listen and share ideas. Not only did he design the extension but we also engaged him to design our kitchen, and carpentry items.  These were fantastic additional services to tap into as we could get everything exactly as we wanted to fit our tastes; maximise the storage that we wanted and come up with well designed workarounds to maximise the usage of space in different practical ways that look great. 

While we did have some delays which are part of the course of a build, we have ended up with a light filled, modern, practical homely space that is a joy to come home to.  We couldn’t have achieved what we did without Paul and we are delighted with the results.

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