12,237 new residential and commercial buildings were recorded across the country in 2011, according to figures released by GeoDirectory. This represents a year-on-year decrease of 30% compared to 2010 when 17,587 new buildings were identified nationally, and a drop of 87% compared to the record high of 2007.
GeoDirectory was jointly established by An Post and Ordnance Survey Ireland (OSi) to create and manage Ireland’s only complete database of commercial and residential buildings. The figures were recorded by 5,600 An Post delivery staff working with experts from OSi.
The new buildings identified across the country by GeoDirectory in 2011 consisted of 10,284 residential buildings, 1,661 commercial buildings and 292 dual-purpose building with both residential and commercial components.
Sligo, where 217 new buildings were identified, showed the largest decrease in new building activity with a 63% drop compared to 2010. In contrast, several counties (Cavan, Dublin, Kildare, Limerick and Waterford) bucked the national trend showing small increases in new building additions compared to 2010. The average increase recorded across these counties was 12% with the largest increase of 34% being recorded in Kildare, where 483 new buildings were identified.
While showing a year-on-year decrease of 40% in new building additions, Cork City and County still recorded the largest number of additions for 2011, with 1,543 new buildings identified. In contrast, Leitrim, showing a year-on-year decrease of 53% in new additions, recorded the smallest increase with just 154 new buildings identified.
The new additions for 2011 bring the total number of buildings in the Republic of Ireland to 1,885,785.
GeoDirectory general manager, Dara Keogh comments: “While figures for the first six months of 2011 showed a return to growth in eleven counties, only five of these sustained this growth through to the end of the year. The overall national picture continues to show a year-on-year decline in building additions.”
He adds: “This downward trend follows a peak in 2007 when 96,000 buildings were added to the GeoDirectory database. Since then, the number of additions to the database has continued to fall resulting in a drop of 87% in new building additions over the last five years.”