Armstrong Planning

Strategic planning advice is at the core of what we do.

Armstrong Planning helps clients understand development potential, manage planning risk and navigate the planning system. We advise from initial feasibility through to planning applications, appeals, observations, enforcement, compliance and post-permission strategy.

Through our in-house design studio, Vico Group, we also provide architectural design, heritage and conservation expertise. Led by an experienced architect, the studio allows planning strategy and design to develop together from the outset – strengthening the planning case while improving the quality and coherence of the scheme.

Planning Services

Planning Strategy

Strategic advice at the earliest stages of a project – before sites are acquired, designs commissioned or commercial commitments made – where the right analysis up front can save time, cost and risk further down the line.

We define the central planning issue, analyse the site context and constraints, review the available options and assess the likely risks. From there, we provide clear strategic advice on the most appropriate route forward.

Includes

  • Pre-acquisition advice
  • Site appraisal
  • Planning history review
  • Policy and development plan analysis
  • Site constraints and opportunities
  • Heritage and ACA considerations
  • Precedent analysis
  • Development potential
  • Planning risk assessment
  • Strategic options and recommendations

Planning Applications

Preparation, coordination and submission of planning applications where the planning justification needs to be clear, robust and strategically framed.

We manage the application process from early scoping through to submission, coordinating the design team, reviewing supporting inputs and ensuring that all drawings, reports and deliverables tell a coherent story.

Includes

  • Pre-application consultation
  • Project scoping
  • Application strategy
  • Planning statements
  • Statements of consistency
  • Supporting planning reports
  • Design team coordination
  • Coordination of drawings and reports
  • Quality control
  • Further Information responses

Planning Appeals

Strategic appeal advice where a refusal, condition or planning decision needs to be challenged or defended on behalf of the applicant.

We review the decision, identify the strongest grounds of appeal and prepare clear, evidence-based submissions focused on policy, precedent, site context and the proper planning merits of the case. We also advise at the outset on prospects, risk and whether an appeal or a redesign would be commercially or strategically advisable.

Includes

  • Review of reasons for refusal
  • Identifying grounds of appeal
  • First-party response statements to third-party appeals
  • Strategic review of prospects
  • Policy and precedent analysis
  • Statement of case
  • Advice on appeal strategy

Project Coordination

Planning-led coordination of the consultant team, technical inputs and application material.

We bring architects, engineers, surveyors and specialist consultants together around a clear planning strategy, drawing in external expert advice where required. Our role is to review all inputs, identify gaps or inconsistencies, align drawings and reports, and package the application so that the planning case is coherent, complete and submission-ready.

Includes

  • Project scoping
  • Consultant brief review
  • Design team coordination
  • Specialist consultant input
  • Review of third-party reports
  • Alignment of drawings and technical inputs
  • Quality control of planning material
  • Collating application packs
  • Further Information coordination

Objections & Third-Party Appeals

Measured third-party advocacy where a proposed development may affect a property, business, community or development interest.

We advise residents, residents' associations, adjoining owners, commercial clients and other interested parties on observations, objections and third-party appeals, focusing on relevant planning grounds, site-specific impacts, development standards, policy protections and the issues most likely to influence the planning authority or An Coimisiún Pleanála.

Includes

  • Planning observations
  • Objections
  • Third-party appeals
  • Review of neighbouring applications
  • Residential amenity impacts
  • Overlooking, overshadowing and overdevelopment
  • Heritage, traffic and policy issues
  • Residents' association submissions
  • Strategic advice before submission
  • Advising on prospects and risks

Enforcement & Exemptions

Practical advice on planning breaches, unauthorised development and exempted development.

We help clients understand their position, assess the available options and choose the most appropriate route forward – whether that means responding to a warning letter, preparing a retention application, seeking a Section 5 declaration on exempted development, or referring an exemption question to An Coimisiún Pleanála.

Includes

  • Warning letters
  • Enforcement notices
  • Retention strategy
  • Retention applications
  • Section 5 declarations
  • Referrals to An Coimisiún Pleanála
  • Exempted development advice
  • Regularisation strategy
  • Local authority engagement

Compliance

Discharge of pre-commencement planning conditions so that works can lawfully begin and proceed with minimal delay.

Once planning permission is granted, we review the conditions attached, identify what each requires, prepare or coordinate the necessary supporting documentation and engage with the planning authority through the compliance agreement process. Where conditions affect timing, phasing or commencement of works, we sequence compliance to keep pace with the construction programme.

Includes

  • Review of planning conditions
  • Discharge of pre-commencement conditions
  • Coordination of supporting documentation
  • Local authority engagement
  • Phasing and sequencing of compliance

Retail Planning

Specialist retail planning advice for landowners, operators and development teams.

We advise on retail need, capacity, impact and location strategy, helping clients understand whether a proposal is policy-compliant, commercially credible and capable of being justified in planning terms. Our work supports new retail floorspace, commercial extensions, changes of use, mixed-use schemes and retail-led development strategies.

Includes

  • Population projections
  • Spend per capita forecasts
  • Headroom analysis
  • Capacity assessment
  • Retail impact assessment
  • Market share calculations
  • Trade-draw analysis
  • Sequential assessment
  • Retail policy review
  • Planning justification for retail proposals

Masterplanning

Planning-led masterplanning for larger, complex or phased sites – where planning and design come together at a macro level.

We prepare spatial frameworks, development strategies and policy-anchored masterplans that bring site layout, massing, access, density, use mix, phasing and delivery into one coherent approach. The aim is to move from broad opportunity to a credible route through consent, design and implementation.

Includes

  • Site capacity testing
  • Site layout strategy
  • Massing studies
  • Land-use strategy
  • Development framework plans
  • Density studies
  • Access and movement strategy
  • Phasing strategy
  • Infrastructure and constraints review
  • Integration with adjoining lands
  • Policy formulation and zoning alignment
  • Consultant team coordination

Vico Group – Design Studio Services

Vico Group is the in-house multidisciplinary design studio within Armstrong Planning. Led by an experienced architect, the studio provides architectural design, heritage & conservation, visualisation and technical drawing services that can be integrated with our planning advice from the outset.

Design is not developed in isolation, with the planning case later reverse-engineered to defend decisions already made. Instead, the planner, architect and conservation adviser read the site together, test options early and shape a coherent route from concept to application.

Architectural Design

Vico Group designs modern architecture, with particular emphasis on contemporary work in sensitive settings – the extension, adaptation and upgrading of period buildings.

We design across residential, commercial, mixed-use and householder projects, from early concept through to planning and technical design. The studio develops clear, well-considered design responses that balance client brief, site context, spatial quality, buildability and visual character.

Includes

  • Client brief development
  • Concept development
  • Sketch options
  • Feasibility layouts
  • Site layout design
  • Floor plans, elevations and sections
  • Planning-stage drawings
  • Design statements
  • Householder extensions and alterations
  • Residential layouts
  • Commercial and mixed-use design
  • Technical drawing packages

Heritage & Conservation

Specialist heritage and conservation advice for historic buildings, protected structures, Architectural Conservation Areas and sensitive townscape settings.

Led by an experienced historic buildings consultant, Vico Group advises on the significance, sensitivity and adaptation of historic buildings, helping clients understand what can change, what should be retained and how to frame interventions in planning and conservation terms.

Includes

  • Heritage appraisals
  • Architectural Heritage Impact Assessments
  • Conservation reports
  • Photographic surveys
  • Conservation design
  • Protected structure advice
  • Sensitive adaptation
  • Conservation method statements
  • Historic building chronology

Building Performance & Retrofit

Specialist assessment and retrofit advice for traditional and historic buildings, where energy performance, moisture risk, fabric behaviour and conservation requirements need to be considered together.

We provide measured, evidence-based advice on the thermal and moisture performance of existing buildings. This supports appropriate insulation, retrofit and upgrading strategies, particularly where default assumptions may misrepresent how traditional fabric actually performs. The aim is to improve comfort and energy performance without causing unintended harm to historic fabric.

Includes

  • In-situ U-value measurement
  • Damp and moisture surveys
  • Thermographic imaging
  • Relative humidity and temperature monitoring
  • Material performance assessment
  • Porosity, vapour permeability and capillary absorption testing
  • Karsten tube testing
  • DEAP assessment review
  • Performance modelling using measured data
  • Thermal upgrading strategies for traditional buildings
  • Retrofit advice for historic and period properties
  • Moisture-risk informed insulation strategy

Surveys, Visualisation & Technical Studies

Survey, graphic and technical material to establish baseline conditions, test design options and support the planning case.

We prepare and coordinate the visual, spatial and technical studies needed to understand a site, assess development options and explain the scale, impact and context of a proposal. These outputs are particularly useful where massing, overshadowing, heritage sensitivity or site constraints need to be clearly communicated.

Includes

  • Topographical surveys
  • Measured building surveys
  • Photographic surveys
  • Site context analysis
  • Shadow mapping
  • 3D visualisations
  • Massing studies
  • Contextual views
  • Presentation graphics

Talk to us about your project.

Tell us where your site is, what you're trying to achieve, or what problem you're trying to solve.

We'll come back with a clear path forward.

Get in touch