ICT Infrastructure Design in Ireland: What a Consultant Delivers

ICT infrastructure design is specialist engineering work — and on Irish construction projects, it is one of the most consistently under-resourced disciplines. Structured cabling, active network equipment, wireless coverage, telecommunications rooms and the containment pathways that carry all of it are often left to the main contractor or a cabling installer to "figure out on site." The result is ad-hoc routing, no cable schedule, no BOQ, no test records and no as-built drawings. This guide explains what a professional ICT infrastructure design consultant delivers on an Irish project — from Stage 1 feasibility through to practical completion — and why that investment pays back many times over.

Why ICT Design Is Specialist Work in Ireland

Three forces have raised the technical bar for ICT design on Irish projects in 2025:

• OGP BIM mandate: public sector projects above €10m require ICT systems in the BIM model at LOD 300 — cable containment, telecommunications rooms and active equipment must be modelled and clash-detected against MEP services
• Wi-Fi 7 (IEEE 802.11be): the latest wireless standard requires Cat6A minimum to every access point, 6GHz channel planning and interference analysis — not skills a general contractor has
• IP convergence: fire alarm, access control, CCTV, BMS and ICT are now on shared IP infrastructure — the ICT design must account for PoE budgets, VLAN segmentation, QoS and cybersecurity (NIS2 Directive for Irish operators of essential services)

The 7 Deliverables of an Irish ICT Design Consultant

1. Needs Analysis and Technology Strategy

Before a single drawing is produced, the consultant interviews stakeholders to understand how the building will be used: user count and distribution, mobility requirements, bandwidth-intensive applications (4K video conferencing, PACS imaging for healthcare, CAD file transfer), growth projections and budget constraints. The output is a Technology Strategy document that informs all subsequent design decisions and is referenced throughout the project.

2. Schematic Design Drawings

The schematic set defines the ICT architecture: telecommunications room locations and hierarchy (MER/MDF/IDF), horizontal cabling zones, backbone routes, wireless coverage zones and active equipment locations. These are produced in AutoCAD DWG or Revit, to ISO 13567 layer standards, and coordinated with architectural and MEP drawings. For Irish NDP projects, the Revit model includes ICT containment at LOD 300 for Navisworks clash detection.

3. Cable Schedule

The cable schedule is a comprehensive list of every cable run on the project: from-location, to-location, cable type (Cat6A, OM4, OS2), cable reference, route length, containment reference and test specification. On a 200-outlet office project, this is a 200-row spreadsheet that becomes the installer's installation guide and the FM team's maintenance reference for the building's lifetime.

4. Bill of Quantities (BOQ)

The BOQ quantifies every material item: horizontal cable (metres), fibre backbone (metres), patch panels (ports), outlets (units), patch cords (units), cable management, racking, containment (tray, basket, trunking by metre) and testing. An accurate ICT BOQ prevents the most common source of contractor variation claims on Irish projects — undefined scope. See our guide to calculating network cabling quantities and BOQ for the full methodology.

5. Performance-Based Tender Specification

The specification defines what performance the installed system must achieve, without naming specific product brands. This is mandatory for Irish public sector projects under OGP procurement rules — vendor-neutral specifications ensure competitive tendering and value for money. The specification references ISO/IEC 11801 or TIA-568 channel performance classes, test standards (TIA-1152 for Cat6A, ISO/IEC 14763-3 for fibre) and warranty requirements. See our vendor-neutral cabling guide for the full rationale.

6. BIM Coordination

On ISO 19650-mandated Irish NDP projects, the ICT model (cable containment, TR equipment, wireless APs) is federated with architectural, structural and MEP models in Navisworks for clash detection. ICT containment — cable trays, cable baskets, trunking — regularly conflicts with HVAC ductwork and pipework in ceiling spaces. BIM coordination resolves these conflicts before construction, eliminating the most expensive category of site-discovered clashes. See our containment coordination guide for the full workflow.

7. Commissioning Support and As-Built Documentation

At practical completion, the consultant witnesses contractor testing (Fluke DSX-8000 for copper, OTDR and insertion loss for fibre), reviews test reports against the specified performance class, and confirms the system passes. As-built drawings are produced to record actual installed cable routes, outlet positions and TR configurations for the Health and Safety File and FM handover.

Irish Project Types and ICT Requirements

AI-Assisted ICT Design Tools in 2025

The tools available to Irish ICT design consultants are advancing rapidly. Three categories of AI-assisted tools are changing the workflow:

• Wireless planning: Ekahau AI Pro and iBwave Design use AI to optimise access point placement, predict interference and validate coverage — replacing manual heatmap iteration with automated optimisation
• Network design: Cisco DNA Center and Aruba Central use intent-based AI to validate network topology against the design intent, flagging configuration conflicts before commissioning
• Digital twin integration: Autodesk Tandem and Bentley iTwin connect the ICT design model to live operational data — outlet port status, AP utilisation and switch performance displayed against the BIM model geometry
• AI quantity take-off: Autodesk Takeoff and CostX use AI to extract cable lengths, outlet counts and rack quantities directly from ICT drawings, reducing BOQ production time by 30–40%

How to Brief an Irish ICT Design Consultant

The quality of an ICT design is directly proportional to the quality of the brief. A brief for an Irish ICT consultant should include:

1. Building type and sector (commercial, healthcare, education, data centre)
2. Gross floor area and number of floors
3. Anticipated user count and occupancy density
4. Key applications: video conferencing, PACS, high-density Wi-Fi, cloud-first vs. on-premise
5. BIM requirement: is ISO 19650 BIM mandated? Which CDE is being used?
6. Phasing: is the project phased? What are the ICT requirements per phase?
7. Budget: indicative ICT infrastructure budget (design fees are typically 3–5% of ICT installation cost)
8. Programme: design completion date, tender period, construction start and completion
9. Existing ICT: is this a new build or refurbishment? What existing infrastructure must be retained?
10. Relevant Irish standards or client-specific standards that must be met