General Description

The project brief was to create a convention centre, exhibition space and retail area and CAT A office fit out with a public square off Ship Street in Dublin 8.  The aim was to create a new desire line from Dublin Castle to the Liberties. The buildings range in height from 6 and 10 storeys and sit comfortably within the streetscape through a stepping back at the upper levels. This project is the second phase of the development to the rear of the Radisson Hotel on Golden Lane which forms a new civic square on the site of Dublin’s earliest Christian church, 6th Century Michael Le Pole Church and graveyard. The development consists of a convention centre over 2 levels, basement accommodation which support accommodation for the Convention Centre such as kitchens, stores, staff areas and carparking. The Dublin Royal Convention Centre is accessed from both Ship Street and from Le Pole Square at first floor level and provides a significant impetus to the redevelopment and upgrading of an important civic thoroughfare set in the context of the historic city core, creating a strong sense of place in an area undergoing significant renewal and rejuvenation. The building comprises of a large double height event space for business conferences or exhibitions catering for up to 1,100 delegates with pre-conference suites / bars, café and support accommodation. Further meeting spaces are provided at first floor level overlooking Ship Street and the new route between Le Pole Square and the public realm. The Convention centre creates a strong presence at street level by having meeting rooms and reception areas overlooking the streetscape.

The Convention Centre also connects with the Radisson Hotel across the new Le Pole Square and the combined hotel, function rooms and business suites will form a hub of activity in this area.  A Café and Exhibition Space also formed part of the brief and link to the square. Given the sensitive city location at the heart of Medieval Dublin Reddy A+U carried out significant research into the archaeological site constraints and developed the concept around ensuring the former church and graveyard of Michael Le Pole were to the foremost for the scheme design.

The archaeologists, led by Alan Hayden, discovered new information of Dublin's oldest church, St. Michael le Pole, which was founded in the sixth century A.D. Outside the church cemetery, Hayden and his team found a Viking Burial of a man as well as pottery from that time. They also unearthed the remains of a medieval farm, twelfth-century quarries that supplied the stone used to construct the castle, and cells belonging to a police station built in 1830. As designers Reddy A+U interiors felt it was hugely important to acknowledge the archaeological and historical significance of this project’s location. We developed a key number of architectural details to nod to the site specifics of the scheme, this included a ships lap detail that we used on our core wall cladding , and which drew inspiration historic methods of Viking Boat Construction. We also had a feature Viking Boat wall backdrop wall handmade by artisan craftsperson Luke Bulfin, who sourced extremely large pieces of aged large to form this commendable piece of woodwork.

We also drew inspiration from the buttresses used in gothic architecture and in Christ Church and St Patricks Cathedral to design the wooden accents to our bar elevation. Our colour scheme and metalwork details were also inspired by the colours of Viking artifacts, particularly those seen at the National History Museum, such as circular gold torcs and aged bronze metalwork with verde- gris patina, and hand scribed patterns on broken ceramic pottery.

Through working with our Landscape designers DFLA we developed a sensitive urban square redolent of graveyards and agreed the design approach with the Council Heritage Departments. The building is designed to maximise the quality of the ground floor experience and that of both the pedestrian and the occupants.. The construction provides a fitting modern insertion in to the historic city fabric providing first class office and commercial accommodation which will help rejuvenate the city centre historic core. The Dublin Royal Convention Centre is designed to be LEED Gold, WELL and WIRED Certification, A2 energy rated and has a range of meeting spaces to cater for all needs. Rooms can be further broken down into smaller rooms through sliding folding screens.

The use of off-site unitised façade panels ensured construction efficiency, enhanced air-tightness and factory assembled precision for the façade completions allowed an accelerated construction programme. Material specification throughout the scheme both internal and external were assessed on the merit of their recycled content, carbon footprint and lifespan. A green roof and photovoltaic cell arrangement on all available roof areas contribute to the renewable energy generation. The Convention Centre uses green materials, locally sourced as part of the wider ethos of this carbon neutral development.

Flexible, yet ergonomic stackable and fold away furniture solutions were key to the Convention Centres success. The Main Ballroom on Ground Level can seat 1000 delegates in full capacity but can also be spilt in to two rooms and function in dining, cabaret and lecture style arrangements. To allow this to happen we have allocated hidden storage walls on at least 2 sides of each room built to the depth of furniture trolleys to allow for quick and easy room re- set ups. The Audio Visual and Acoustic Solutions for this project took 6 months to develop with the Allegro and H.A.S. It was extremely important that the Convention Centre offered excellence in both of these areas of the project. We looked at both sound separation by min 50DB RW for both fixed and folding wall partitions and at least 50% Class A acoustic absorbing materials coverage with on surfaces, which included Ceewood wood wool wallcovering, Sonaspray Ceilings and acoustic curtains and carpet Tiles. For the AV and lighting solution we developed with H.A.S. a series of lighting and gobo and high lumen projector rigs in the ballroom spaces which were automated to drop from 5.2 metres to low level for maintenance and brand customisation for events. The Convention Centre also connects with the Radisson Hotel across the new Le Pole Square and the combined hotel, function rooms and business suites will form a hub of activity in this area.

Key Challenges

A significant number of challenges were encountered during the project, from issues during the pandemic, an extended archaeological dig , and the increase of material costs over the duration of the specification of the scheme.  As this was a developer/ builder project with multiple construction elements happening on the site at the same time , it was extremely to keep on top of cost and value engineer in a strategic way without compromising on key performance criteria such as acoustics, AV and Catering Elements. The catering package for this project was extensive. It included a 350sqm full prep catering kitchen on Ground Level with the capacity to cater a 4 -course meal to over 1000 delegates at a time.

This kitchen has a prep Kitchen at First Floor Level for Buffet service to the upper floors as well as service lifts which go from both of these kitchens to the basement level where there are additional freezer, cold and ambient food storage facilities designed in compliance with the Food Safety Authority Regulations. Another key request on the project was to create spaces that would be customisable for a large variety of conference and promotional events, from having new model of car showcased in the centre of the ground floor entrance space to a series of food marketing stands. With this in mind, we designed in a hardwearing concrete floor with column and perimeter wall power points, and demountable/fold away furniture to facilitate these multiple set ups. The reception desk also acts as an additional buffet and drinks service point and sits in front of an automated cloak room with service access hatch. The corner of the main ballroom room also opens up on 2 sides to give direct access to the main bar to allow for easy break out before and after events and links to a DJ booth and dance floor. Achieving this complex level of flexibility and adaptability for many event types without compromising acoustic performance, capacity and fire safety required careful planning and coordination and was key to the success of the project.

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Project Features

  • 5,000 sqm including the Convention Centre, Café and Exhibition Area
  • LEED GOLD
  • WELL GOLD
  • A2 BER Rated

Team

  • Developer : Luxor Developments
  • Contractor : JJR Group
  • Contractor Fit out : JJR Group
  • Architect : Reddy Architecture and Urbanism Group
  • Civil/Structural Engineers : CS Consulting
  • M&E Consultants : PM Caul Consulting
  • Landscape Architects : DFLA
  • Quantity Surveyors : Hawthorne Group
  • Fire Safety Consultant : Ryan Consulting
  • Access Consultant : Ryan Consulting
  • PSDP : Reddy Architecture and Urbanism Group
  • AV Specialist: HAS Group
  • Catering Specialist: BUNZL Catering
  • Acoustic Consultants: I Acoustics
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