Paul Mitchell is a Chartered Quantity Surveyor and co-founding Director of Mitchell McDermott, an independent, data-led quantity surveying and project management consultancy with 125 people across Dublin, Limerick, London and Amsterdam. Paul has 30 years’ experience in construction and property. He began his career in 1996 with an international consultant, spending some years working in San Francisco before returning to Ireland to become an Equity Partner in the firm. Paul co-founded Mitchell McDermott with Anthony McDermott in 2015.

Residential and student accommodation are central to the firm’s work. Mitchell McDermott has worked on more than 33,900 residential units and over 7,360 student beds across Dublin, Cork and Galway. On these schemes the firm has acted as project manager, quantity surveyor or funder’s monitor.

Paul is a founding member of the PBSA Council of Ireland and a contributing author of its recent report on the student accommodation sector. He has written and spoken widely on the cost and viability of housing delivery in Ireland. He is co-author of the SCSI’s The Real Costs of New Apartment Delivery series (2017, 2021 and 2025), which analyses development costs, viability and affordability. He has led research for Government, including:

· the Department of Housing’s Residential Construction Cost Study and Total Development Cost Study

· the Apartment Development Viability Gap Study

· the Compact Growth Study for the Department and the Housing Agency

· the Brownfield/Greenfield Land Activation study for the OPR

Paul also contributed to the work of the Housing Commission, with research on residential viability, compact housing viability and the cost of urban sprawl. He is involved in Irish Cities 2070 and contributed to its book, Irish Cities in Crisis.