Client: Scape Living Student Accommodation
This 300-bed student accommodation development, sitting over a retail complex at ground floor, is located in the heart of historical Dublin, an extremely archaeologically sensitive area.
The scheme involved construction of 7 floors of accommodation including a central tower over open plan student common room within a central courtyard. This structure including core is transferred at 1st floor to suit the layout of the large retail unit below. The perimeter accommodation surrounding the first floor podium garden areas are also transferred at first floor over the retail unit and student reception, gym and management facilities located at ground floor level and above partial basement.
The entire building is supported on piled foundations strategically placed to preserve notable areas of archaeological sensitivity. This city-centre development site is bounded on 3 sides by Aungier Street, Stephens Street Upper and Longford Street Great, and close liaison was required with the Local Authority on areas such as conservation and traffic management.
A central accommodation tower is transferred at 2nd floor with a further transfer occurring at 1st floor level above LIDL’s retail unit of 2,000sqm. This included the particular challenge of transferring the core above the shop floor and achieving lateral stability through the podium slab to cores of the surrounding blocks.
The sensitive nature of the site from an archaeological and conservation perspective meant that the piled foundations had to be adjusted to avoid areas of archaeological sensitivity once uncovered. Working closely with the consultant archaeologist and IAC Archaeology onsite as the archaeological dig progressed, newly uncovered discoveries of significance had to be responded to with amendments to the structural design and proposed load paths thus preserving insitu key heritage monuments. These monuments are displayed using trafficked laminated toughened glass floor displays facilitating store operations whilst presenting some remarkable cultural relics.
Additionally a row of existing façade structures fronting onto Aungier St had to be retained whilst carefully inserting a new steel frame to facilitate the construction of the new accommodations including residential above retail units.
GGBS used in concrete mix where feasbile to reduce embodied carbon.
Project Director
