Peter became an associate of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in 1983 having joined a London QS practice in September 1980, following completion of a four year Dip. QS course.

He then worked in Saudi Arabia from May 1983 both in Riyadh and Jeddah, he then worked in Paris for 18 months prior to returning to the Middle East to the State of Qatar 1986 until 1993 becoming a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in the same year.

Returning to Northern Ireland in 1993 he continued to work on Middle East defence projects for his previous practice before joining Rotary International as Director for Eastern Europe responsible for Poland, Ukraine and the Czech Republic from 1994 until 1997.

In 1997 he joined a major locally based developer as Company Surveyor responsible for feasibility studies, project design, planning and building control together with on site programming and cost control.

Peter Irwin lives in Donaghadee, is married with two grown up sons, he has been a life long member of Strangford Lough Yacht Club and is volunteer Operations Manager with Donaghadee Lifeboat Station.