UCD’s Building Stories Initiative Enters New Phase to Tackle Housing Vacancy and Revitalise Irish Towns

After a thorough development phase, Building Stories, a future-focused research initiative from University College Dublin, is entering a new phase of public engagement and implementation. With the launch of Living Labs in partnership with Monaghan and Cork City Councils, the project is addressing some of Ireland’s most urgent challenges, including the housing crisis, carbon emissions from construction, and the decline of town centres.

Backed by €690,000 in funding through the National Challenge Fund’s OurTech Challenge, the project brings together a multidisciplinary team of researchers in architecture, planning, computer science, and data governance. Building Stories is developing a dynamic, AI-powered geospatial platform to accurately map vacancy in Ireland’s built environment, providing leaders in housing and planning policy with actionable, building-level data.

Speaking about the project, sustainable urban design expert and spokesperson for Building Stories, Dr Philip Crowe, said: “With Building Stories we aim to give local authorities, national agencies, and communities a new lens through which to understand vacancy, with data that can assist in good decision making and more efficient management of the built environment.”

Building Stories is a 12-person research team at UCD’s School of Architecture, Planning and Environmental Policy and the School of Computer Science, led by Dr Philip Crowe, Dr Gavin McArdle and Dr Rob Brennan. It is affiliated with the UCD Centre for Irish Towns (CfIT) and ADAPT, the Research Ireland Centre for AI-Driven Digital Content Technology, and supported by Taighde Éireann – Research Ireland.

The project is building a secure and robust geospatial model that draws on diverse proxy datasets, satellite imagery, and advanced machine learning to dynamically predict the vacancy status of buildings across Ireland.

Dr Crowe continued: “Ireland has no reliable, up-to-date database on vacancies at the granular scale of individual buildings and sites. Building Stories aims to provide this data and unlock the more efficient reuse of vacant properties towards better housing delivery, reduction of carbon emissions and the sustainable revitalisation of towns.”

In summer 2025, the project is being tested on the ground in Living Labs in Monaghan Town and Cork City, which will combine data modelling with citizen science to verify insights and incorporate local knowledge.

The project began in 2023 but is now scaling its impact, growing the initiative and refining the model in partnership with local authorities and stakeholders across Ireland. Through open collaboration, citizen engagement, and a commitment to data transparency and governance, the project aligns with EU data and AI regulations, and Ireland’s ambition to be a leader in the ethical advancement of a digital society.