Local agency or remote studio for an architecture firm website in Cork: how to choose (2026)

The verdict in three sentences

For a commercial and workplace architecture practice in Cork (offices, labs, corporate campuses), the website's first job is to get you through pre-qualification with corporate real estate teams and public buyers, before it ever impresses anyone. A remote studio handles that well if your references, certificates and imagery already exist, with a budget of €2,700 to €8,200. A Cork or Dublin agency is preferable when the site is part of a months-long rebrand with regular workshops in your Docklands office.

How do you score the two options objectively?

A workplace practice works for demanding clients: real estate teams at multinationals in Little Island or Ringaskiddy, office developers, education bodies. Many projects sit under non-disclosure agreements, which changes how the portfolio is presented. Score each option from 1 to 5 against your own priorities, not price alone.

The scores are an example for a practice that already has its photos and one lead partner: change the weights to match your situation. If in-person workshops make up 40% of your decision, the Cork agency takes the lead.

When is a local agency the better choice?

• Your practice is merging or renaming, and signage, tender documents and website need to be aligned in one project.
• Your clients insist on approving images of their premises in a meeting, on site, before publication.
• You want an agency that also runs your LinkedIn recruitment campaigns every month.
• You prefer a contact you can see within the week without scheduling a video call.

In other cases (a 15 to 30 page site, clear references, one decision maker), a remote studio delivers the same result in 3 to 4 weeks. The grid is detailed on the international offer page: Starter €2,700, Growth €4,500, Premium €8,200, with a project manager in your time zone, native English copywriting and 3 months of support.

What a workplace practice's site needs

• Sector pages: offices, life sciences, education, retail, each with 3 to 6 references.
• Anonymised case studies where an NDA requires it: area, brief, timeline, no client name or logo.
• Pre-qualification area: professional indemnity insurance, certifications, team CVs, sent on request through a form.
• Optimised gallery: interior photos in AVIF or WebP, lazy loading, LCP under 2.5 seconds.
• Awards, competitions and press, plus a careers page, because hiring architects in Cork is competitive.
• Compliance: in Ireland, the title architect is reserved for people on the register kept by the RIAI under the Building Control Act 2007. Forms fall under the GDPR and Ireland's Data Protection Act 2018, supervised by the Data Protection Commission. A sensible accessibility target is WCAG 2.2 AA. This is not legal advice.

What is the total cost over three years?

Agency ranges reflect typical agency quotes and public local agency rate pages, not a formal survey.

Questions to ask before you sign

• Will the domain and code repository be registered to the practice?
• How do you present a project that is under an NDA?
• How many references can we add ourselves each month in the CMS?
• Who holds the photo licence, and can we reuse images in tender submissions?
• What does it cost to exit the maintenance contract?

Mini case study

*Illustrative example.* Ciarán is a partner in a 12-person Cork practice focused on office and lab fit-outs. His current site shows 9 projects, 4 of which he can no longer name. A Cork agency quotes €13,000 plus €160 a month, so €18,760 over 3 years. The remote Premium option is €8,200 plus about €35 a month of hosting, so €9,460. The €9,300 gap is barely 4% of the fee on a single 3,000 m² fit-out billed at around €230,000. So the real question for Ciarán lies elsewhere: do his partners want in-person workshops? If not, the remote studio is enough.

FAQ

Can we show a project covered by an NDA?

Often yes, in anonymised form: sector, area, timeline, photos without logos. Plan for 2 to 3 such pages for every 10 named references.

Should tender documents be freely downloadable from the site?

A request form works better: you know who reads your 5 to 8 pre-qualification documents and you can follow up within 48 hours.

How long does launch take?

Around 3 to 4 weeks with a remote studio if copy and photos are ready, compared with 8 to 16 weeks according to Irish agency quotes.

Is accessibility mandatory for a private practice?

The strictest rules mainly target public bodies and certain services covered by the European Accessibility Act. Aiming for WCAG 2.2 AA is still prudent and cheap at build stage, roughly 5 to 10% of the budget. Have your position confirmed by an adviser.

For an exact figure, request a free quote with your list of references.

Let's scope your project. A 15 to 30 page website for a Cork workplace practice, between €2,700 and €8,200, live in 3 to 4 weeks. See the international offer or request a free quote: detailed reply within 48 hours.