In January, a very special episode of RTE’s ‘Room To Improve’ featured an old derelict Dublin house being transformed into the Julian Benson Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s Tranquility House. Cork builder Brandon Duarte was its Contracts Manager/Project Manager and filled Building Ireland in on the details of the amazing project which was completed in the early part of this year.
When Brandon Duarte first started out in the construction game over two decades ago, he could hardly have envisioned himself plying his trade in front of national television cameras on a somewhat regular basis.
Nowadays, the Corkonian is doing exactly that as he’s been a regular fixture on popular building shows such as ‘Room To Improve’ and ‘DIY SOS’ for some time now.
He has enjoyed the work from ‘Day One’, combining it with his full-time position as Contracts Manager for Vision Contracting, a company which has bases in Cork, Kerry, Dublin and Limerick.
Building Ireland caught up with Brandon recently to discuss the ins and outs of the Tranquility House project, along with his own background and what’s next for him work-wise.
“I’m originally from Macroom in Cork, my mother’s Irish and my father’s Mexican and they’re living in Macroom for the last 48 years,” he outlined. Brandon now lives in Kilmichael near Macroom with his wife and three daughters.
“I’m in construction with over 20 years, working on all types of projects, ranging from commercial, residential, to working with Irish Defence Forces, navel vessels, and conservation andrestoration.”
Last year saw Brandon helping to transform an old 4 storey Dublin house into a structure for four self-contained units. It was constructed for families of people with cystic fibrosis – a condition that clogs and damages vital organs such as the lungs and pancreas.
The roots of the Tranquillity House Project trace back to 2022 when the Julian Benson Foundation purchased an abandoned Victorian red-brick property in Rathgar.
Brandon’s work on the project saw him organising builders, electricians, plumbers, painters etc from around the country, with many professional companies volunteering their time to help the construction process.
“I’d have been involved there for about 14 months. From Monday to Thursday we used to coordinate the build via zoom calls and I used to go up from Thursday to Saturday on site,” said the Cork man. The project itself finished on January 20th.”
The special ‘Room To Improve’ episode on the new Julian Benson Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s Tranquility House aired on RTE television on January 26th.
It featured architect and presenter Dermot Bannon, working alongside Julian Benson, and his CEO Louise Doogan and of course, builder Brandon Duarte, as well as the volunteering companies, working to develop the project which would, in the end, comprise of four individual two-bedroom apartment suites; each of which are fully equipped with kitchen, dining, living spaces plus two bedrooms.
Indeed, Tranquility House has now delivered four unique “home away from home” experiences for guests.
At the time of writing, the GoFundMePage which was set-up in order to help support the Julian Benson CF Foundation’s Tranquility House had raised close to €80,000.
For Brandon, it was a project that he was privileged to be asked to do and be part of and, as for the television cameras, you could say it’s something that he has grown accustomed to at this stage.
“The project itself was great to be involved in. It was challenging because they had a budget and it was up to me to coordinate how it could be done”.
“I got a call from Patricia Power who was the quantity surveyor on previous episodes of Room to improve. Patricia, whom I had worked with on a separate job previously, contacted me and asked me if I could get involved in it and coordinate it, so I met Patricia and it went from there.”
Now the mission is complete and what sits at 58 Grosvenor Road, Dublin 6 is a fully developed accommodation facility where a family member can stay, whilst their loved one is receiving treatment in hospital.
As for Brandon, he’s now delighted to be part of the team at Vision Contracting Cork for nearly a year now and balances both his day job and his tv work which makes him a very busy man.
A company with a proven background in pre-construction, value engineering, project and construction management, Vision Contracting provides complete project delivery solutions.
It takes a collaborative business approach and is known for working hand in hand with customers and their design teams in order to deliver the best solutions for their needs.
Needless to say, Brandon is very proud to be part of the company’s team in Melbourne Business Park along the Model Farm Road in Co Cork.
Never one to sit idle, it’s now on to the next challange for the Macroom native as he immediately starts into his role as Build Consultant for the new season of DIY SOS the big build Ireland with Baz Ashmawy
The Room to Improve episode on Julian Benson Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s Tranquility House is available for viewers to watch on RTE player and can be accessed at this link online: (https://www.rte.ie/player/series/room-to-improve/SI0000001450?epguid=IP000067844).
Vision Contracting
(Cork Office):
Melbourne House,
Melbourne Business Park,
Model Farm Road,
Co Cork (T12 YH31)
Tel: +353 (0) 21 4874930
Email: [email protected]
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, June 2025, Vol 11 No 6
