Firms from across Ireland's built environment sector have sponsored this year's Open House Dublin 2020.

An initiative of the Irish Architecture Foundation, Open House Dublin will take place 'online and onsite' from 8 to 11 October.

The sponsors include Sisk, Quintain, BAM, CBRE, I-Res REIT, Cairn Homes, Equitone, Kilsaran, Glenveagh, Avestus Capital, Kennedy Wilson and the Royal Institute of the Architect of Ireland.

Open House Dublin is celebrating its 15th year in 2020 with highlights including:

• The Big Debate, titled 'Dublin's Fair City', with speakers including Lord Mayor of Dublin Hazel Chu, Liam Herrick, Executive Director of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, and Ali Grehan, Dublin City Architect. The debate will kick off the weekend’s events and will be live-streamed on Thursday, 8 October

• A programme of events for children, including Minecraft challenges, and online workshops hosted by the Chester Beatty Library, Irish Museum of Modern Art, and Fighting Words, among others

• Outdoor walking, cycling and boat tours of some of Dublin’s best-known green spaces, Dublin Port and historical streets and buildings including the Irish National War Memorial Gardens, O'Connell Street and Leinster House;

'On-Site' Architect film series - online tours of residential projects by a selection of Dublin's architects.

The IAF has also witnessed a significant increase in support from this sector through their Corporate Champions 'Friends' Scheme. The new IAF Champions are DCON Safety Consultants, DBFL Consulting Engineers, Virtus Project Management, Barrett Mahony Consulting Engineers, Linesight, MOLA Architecture, KSN Project Management Reddy Architecture + Urbanism, Lafferty. Corporate Champions support the IAF's core ambition to generate audiences for architecture through their year-long dynamic programme of events, that reach across all ages and communities in Ireland.

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Nathalie Weadick, Director of the IAF said: "We are delighted and energised to have the support of some of Ireland’s leading corporations within the built environment sector for the IAF's core programme and also the Open House Dublin festival. 2020 is a special year for the IAF marking our 15th anniversary. While this year's programme is taking place in a much different environment to what we could have imagined at the outset of the year, we have worked hard to put together a programme of events that celebrates architecture and reflects the values of the Irish Architecture Foundation in 2020 and onwards. Thanks to the support of our corporate sponsors and friends, we are delighted to be able to put together an exciting programme of events. Its a real indication that they back our vision and purpose.

"The Covid-19 pandemic has changed so much for all of us. Many of us have rediscovered our communities and neighbourhoods and uncovered the extraordinary in the everyday. In this extraordinary year, our flagship event, Open House Dublin will celebrate the resilience, exceptional potential and talent in architecture and urban design within our city and nation.

"Every event this year is free to attend, accessible to everyone with internet access across the world, as well as featuring a number of physical events adhering to public health guidelines. The outbreak of Covid-19 forced us to think outside the box as to how we normally run Open House Dublin, and our film shorts capture the diverse architectural landscape of the city and offer a fresh perspective to some of our well-known buildings, while highlighting some lesser-known architectural wonders such as the Loos Bar in Trinity College Dublin.

"This year's 'Big Debate' will ask the question as to whether Dublin is a fair city – questioning both the beauty of the capital as well as focusing on societal inequalities and the role of architecture in helping to address these.

"We are excited and proud of our programme of events and look forward to bringing Open House Dublin to a bigger audience than ever before. It's a great credit to our corporate sponsors that they have rallied to support Open House Dublin and the IAF more generally in such a challenging year and we welcome any further champions of architecture and the built environment to get involved next year."