KCC proud to be part of iconic ESB Headquarter Restoration

Many in the architecture and design world, particularly in Ireland, have been eagerly following progress on the restoration and redevelopment of the existing ESB buildings on Fitzwilliam Street, Dublin. The project encompasses the retention and refurbishment of a number of protected Georgian structures and the construction of a new seven-storey office block designed by prestigious Architecture firms Grafton Architects & O’Mahony Pike Architects.

Site works for “Project Fitzwilliam” as it is titled by ESB, began in 2017 following a design competition for the prestigious building. The new 45,000 sqm development will provide a near zero energy-rated building as one of the most sustainable and efficient office developments in Dublin city. The project has been carefully and respectfully designed in sympathy with the surrounding Georgian streetscape.

We’ve been working closely with the Architects, Design teams, Contractor and Client to deliver the following solutions for this iconic project –

Fitzwilliam Street Georgian Façade

Project Fitzwilliam as it is known by ESB themselves, is a highly-anticipated project in the Irish Architectural world, led by Grafton Architects, O’Mahony Pike Architects and Contractor PJ Hegarty, in addition to several other key collaborators. The project is even more notable due to the historical significance of the area and the controversy around the 1960s creation of the ESB Headquarters we’ve known for the past fifty plus years. Designed by architects Sam Stephenson and Arthur Gibney in the 1960s, the project created serious controversy from the offset after a collection of original Georgian houses had to be demolished to make room for it. This ‘modernist’ encroachment on the city’s “Georgian Mile” was, for conservationists, one of the greatest crimes ever committed against Dublin’s historic core.

The more recent restoration of the Fitzwilliam street façade, as designed by Grafton Architects & O’Mahony Architects, is in keeping with the original style and era of the City street and reinstating the traditional Georgian streetscape, creating the longest uninterrupted Georgian Streetscape in Europe.

The specification for the Fitzwilliam Street façade was extremely detailed and the design, development and approval process between the design team and KCC took approximately two years and included numerous collaborative workshops between all key stakeholders. In collaboration with the design team from Grafton Architects, KCC designed and developed a proposal for a completely bespoke, thermally-broken MHB steel window system with our partners in Holland.

Given the importance and high specification of the bespoke façade system, there was a requirement to design and fabricate full-size prototype units which were then tested rigorously by approved testing bodies in Holland for thermal modelling, acoustic testing, wind/pressure and water testing.

The initial concept had to be developed into a full prototype window for inspection, testing and approval. As these units were entirely bespoke and purpose-built for this project, extensive testing was undertaken at various test facilities in Europe to ensure that the high specification outlined by the client to provide a slim profile, thermally-broken window system capable of achieving up to 4 metres in height, was being met for the façade of the building, the desired objective being to re-instate the Georgian aesthetic of the building in sympathy with the surrounding, historical streetscape.

We subsequently built two full-size prototypes in Kill, Co Kildare in a mock-up version of what the end result would look like in situ on Fitzwilliam Street, where the design team were not only able to view and inspect the proposed windows in-situ but also surrounded by the various types of brick & brick coursing proposed for the project in accordance with the aesthetic requirements of the Georgian streetscape.

Internal Fire-rated screens for new offices

Further to the bespoke MHB steel glazing system on this project we were commissioned to design, fabricate and install internal Schuco Jansen doors and fire-rated screens on the new office space of the project. These screens were designed not only for their minimalist aesthetic and ability to allow maximum light into the space, but more importantly to comply with the fire strategy of the building, providing up to 90 minute fire-rating to lift lobbies and entrance lobbies on each floor for the protection of building occupants.

Restoration of Georgian Houses along Mount Street Upper

In conjunction with renowned conservation architects, Shaffrey Architects, we have designed internal steel fire-rated and non fire-rated doors and screens in MHB slim profiles to be installed internally on 5 luxury apartments, restored to their original Georgian splendour. Shaffrey Architects elected to use MHB due to the super slim profiles and the ability to match the finesse of the original Georgian screens inside the building while at the same time providing fire-rating where required to meet modern building regulations.

Bespoke external doors to entrance lobbies and courtyard areas

We are also designing and developing bespoke oversized external glazed steel-framed doors to compliment the various glazing elements on the project – these doors provide access control and automated features to ensure ease of access for users of all abilities whilst serving as fire-escape doors in some applications. The reason for the use of a thermally-broken steel profile is due to the height of the doors exceeding three metres in some instances. Further to the above units we are currently designing and developing three bespoke arched escape doors with the design team at Grafton Architects to be used on the Fitzwilliam Street Façade to compliment the MHB windows.

Progress, April 2020

Although works are currently at a standstill in Irish Construction due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we will continue to work with the contractor, client and design teams when given the go-ahead again to drive this project forward.