The Practice was established in 1988 and is based in the central business district of Derry, Northern Ireland, with a sub-office in County Donegal, Ireland. We carry out projects throughout the island of Ireland and beyond.

Canavan Associates is a growing firm that offers comprehensive services with a commitment to excellence in the provision of integrated planning, architecture, community development and environmental services, including renewables and wind energy.We work closely across disciplines to provide project teams that produce top quality results without the need for costly overheads costs associated with other practices.Canavan Associates employs a multi-cultural staff offering a wide range of spoken languages and international experience giving it a unique characteristic.

Staff of Canavan Associates Ltd.

Mr Seamus Canavan, BA (Hons.) MA MIPI MRTPI Affil IEMA
Director, Canavan Associates Ltd;
Chartered Town Planner and Project Manager

Mr. Seamus Canavan, the director of this multidisclipinary practice, oversees day to day management. After securing a Master’s Degree in Town Planning from Sheffield University in 1980 and previously a 2:1 BA (Hons) in Human Geography, Mr Canavan acquired extensive planning experience before establishing his own Planning Consultancy, Canavan Associates Ltd., in 1988.

Seamus Canavan previously worked as a Town Planner with Public Authorities in Ireland and abroad.His planning and environmental expertise has been supplemented through additional skills and qualifications in business and enterprise development, information technologies; building design and project development; with speciality in renewable energy, rural and community development plans; architectural design, and landscape and visual impact assessment. He has completed professionally accredited courses in health and safety, building regulations, energy rating and fire safety.

Seamus Canavan has been providing architectural and design services since 1988 in this private practice. He was a founder member, and honorary secretary, of the Derry Foyle Civic Trust.

He is a full corporate member of the Royal and Irish Town Planning Institutes and a Mentor for the Royal Town Planning Institute.He is also a member of Irish Rural Link and the Irish Council of the European Movement; an affiliate of the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment; an accredited Business Mentor; and present committee member of the EU cross-border "Green Box" sustainable development programme.

Áine Coyle, MSc. BSc. AIEMA, Environmental Manager, has a Bachelor of Science Geography Degree from The Queen’s University of Belfast and a distinction classification in a postgraduate Master of Science in Environmental Management from The University of Ulster. She is also a qualified Associate Member of the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment.As a consultant in the fields of wind energy development, the Environmental Impact Assessment process and Environmental Management, her work entails the scoping of potential development sites, public and statutory consultation and the preparation, review and integration and project management ofEnvironmental Statements. Current projects include a number of major wind farm developments in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Aine is experienced in environmental auditing and in the maintenance of Environmental Management Systems. She has also acted in a consultative role in devising habitat restoration plans, species management plans, building community based sustainability action plans and sustainable tourism and management in central Africa and Italy.

Laurie McGee, BA (Hons) Dip. Comm. Dev. Practice, MA Town & Country Planning. Laurie has over 20 years experience working in community planning and development in the voluntary sector. She was recently awarded an MA in Town & Country Planning from the University of West of England , Bristol , adding to her qualifications in community development practice, and training accreditation. She is a licentiate member of the RTPI and affiliate member of the IEMA. Laurie provides town planning and community development services which projects have included a Land Use Plan for a council owned site in Donegal, the 1993 and 2005 Arranmore Island Development Plans, and various community audits and development plans for local development companies in Donegal. Other work includes planning appeals and compilation and editing EIAs.

Sofía Guillén, BArch (Hons),Architectural Technologist studied architecture at University of Ricardo Palma in Lima, Peru.She has more than 5 years of international experience working in Ireland and Peru. She is a CAD-architect involved in residential, commercial and wind farm development projects. Her other IT experience includes ArchiCad 5.0, ReSoft WindFarm 4.0 and Pascal programming language course. She provides CAD maps and graphics along with visual analyses ZVTs, Photomontages, shadow flicker analysis and layouts for renewable energy projects.

Brenda Kerrane, MSc, BSc (Hons) Architectural Technologist studied at Napier University, Edinburgh and has over six years experience in residential and commercial architectural projects throughout Ireland. She has an MSc. in Renewable Energy from the University of Ulster. She works on architectural and wind energy projects including mapping and applications.

Neil Martin, HND, studied construction at Lisburn Institute of Further and Higher Education from Sept 2001 to June 2006 and completed an AVCE and HND in this subject, while here he also completed a level 3 City and Guilds certificate in 2D CAD.

Neil has been working for Canavan Associates in Londonderry since Sept 2007 as an Architectural Design Technician. In this role he drafts drawings and maps for various wind farm and other development projects for submission to planning authorities.

Practice Details:

Professional Organisations

Members of staff also have membership and affiliation with the Royal Town Planning Institute, the Irish Planning Institute, the Environmental and Planning Law Association for Northern Ireland and the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment.

Apart from Planning and Environmental Associations, we also subscribe to various organisations for community, architectural and renewable energy services.

Professional Indemnity and Employees Insurances

The Practice is fully insured covering all work in the UK and Ireland.

VAT Registration

We are VAT registered in both Ireland and N. Ireland.Our UK Vat Number is 516812257 and our Ireland VAT Number is IE 9985872L.

Equal opportunities and Fair Employment Legislation (N. Ireland)

We are compliant with the Fair Employment and Treatment (Northern Ireland) Act 1998 and are an equal-opportunities employer.

Health & Safety

The Practice places the utmost concern on Health & Safety. Employees undertake ongoing professional development courses in this regard.It is our policy to inform and advise employees on safety procedures and risk assessments involved in day to day duties, whether inside the office, on site or survey work. The Practice provides all safety apparel and equipment and encourages a high level of awareness to continually ensure zero tolerance in health and safety risks. We have our Company Health & Safety Plan and prepare Health & Safety plans for specific projects, employees and sub-consultants employed and Pre-Tender Safety and Health Plans for Construction projects. We additionally prepare Health & Safety Impact Assessments as part of our Environmental Impact Assessment works.

We are conversant and compliant with the N.I. Health and Safety at Order (N.I). Order 978, as amended, and all attendant Regulations, including duties of employees to employees; and the Health, Safety and Welfare at Work (Construction) Regulations 1995 and attendant relevant regulations such as: Safety Health & Welfare at Work Act 1989; Safety Health & Welfare at Work (General Regulations) S.I. 44 of 1993 (Amended 2001); Safety Health and Welfare at Work (Construction) Regulations 1995-2001; Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act, 2005; and Other Health & Safety EU and National Legislation.

Positive Environmental Approach

The Practice is committed to a sustainable development and a positive approach to the environment. We have expertise in the design and reuse of older buildings; in wind farm developments; renewable technologies; energy conservation; Eco-Design; the avoidance of harmful products in construction; and in the provision of ecologically sensitive and appropriate landscaping for new projects.

O.S Map Licences

We are licensed for reproduction of maps by both Ordnance Survey Mapping Northern Ireland Licence No. 703; and Ordnance Survey: Ireland Licence No.AR0017403.