Emer O'Sullivan, Director at Hussey Architects, joins the judging panel of the Building and Architect of the Year Awards 2026, adding a career defined by technical rigour, sector breadth, and the kind of hands-on project leadership that distinguishes practitioners who shape buildings from those who simply deliver them.

A graduate of Technological University Dublin and Trinity College Dublin, O'Sullivan qualified in 2001 and built her early career across a range of respected practices, including Orna Hanly Architects, the OPW Graduate Training Programme, and O'Mahony Pike Architects, before joining Hussey Architects in 2010.

Her formative years at the practice were anchored in healthcare design, with contributions to developments at Crumlin Children's Hospital and several new-build Primary Care Centres across Ireland, work that demands precision, regulatory awareness, and an acute understanding of how built environments serve the people within them.

O'Sullivan's technical leadership extended beyond design into how the practice itself operates. In 2014, she completed a Diploma in Collaborative BIM and subsequently led Hussey Architects through the transition from two-dimensional CAD to full Building Information Modelling, a change that repositioned the practice for the demands of contemporary construction delivery.

Her project portfolio demonstrates an ability to translate complex briefs into completed buildings. She served as Project Director for The Hendrick, a 144-bedroom hotel in Smithfield completed in 2019, and for the 163-bedroom Dublin One Hotel on North Circular Road. She is currently overseeing a large-scale housing development in Munster and a hospitality project in the north-east.

The Building and Architect of the Year Awards 2026 ceremony takes place on Thursday, 23rd April 2026 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Santry.

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