Tom O'Donnell Email & Phone Number

Tom O'Donnell is a founding director at Self-Organised Architecture (SOA), an action-research think tank established to research and promote cooperative and collaborative approaches to housing and community development in Ireland (soa.ie). In 2020-21 he co-authored the publication Roadmapping a Viable Community-Led Housing Sector for Ireland, which was the result of an SOA initiated 12-month multi-stakeholder research project to identify obstacles, provide guidance and make policy recommendations for Community-Led Housing (CLH) in Ireland. This project was supported by the Housing Agency, the Land Development Agency, Ó Cualann Cohousing Alliance, Goethe Institut Irland and the Housing Finance Agency. Stakeholders in the project included eight CLH groups from eight counties in Ireland, policymakers, local authorities, lenders from state, private and community sectors, housing practitioners and professionals from Ireland, the UK and Europe. The President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, provided a Foreword to the publication and recognition in Irish law of Community-Led Housing, the Community Land Trust and Cooperative Housing followed in the Affordable Housing Act 2021 (see 'Publications', below). In 2020-21, SOA were also Ireland partner of Sustainable Homes in Inclusive and Cohesive Cities (SHICC), an award-winning European Community Land Trust (CLT) project funded by Interreg NW Europe with partners from the UK, Belgium, France, Germany and Netherlands. This project led to the founding of a new European CLT Network, in which SOA is a founding signatory. Tom O'Donnell studied architecture at University College Dublin and Cambridge University. From 2000-2007, he worked at Cork City Architect’s Department, Cork City Council, on a number of public and housing projects. He is based in Ireland and Germany.