Project Spotlight - ESB Headquarters, Fitzwilliam Street

ESB Headquarters wins at Irish Building & Design Awards 2022
The new ESB Headquarters on Fitzwilliam Street has won the Building Project of the Year in the Irish Building and Design Awards 2022 – a great achievement for a great project that we were so proud to be involved in. Congratulations to involved in Grafton Architects, O’Mahony Pike Architects, P.J. Hegarty & Sons Building Contractors and the ESB in addition to our own team who worked tirelessly to bring our elements of the project to life.

The winning design by Grafton Architects and 0'Mahony Pike Architects' achieved a BREEAM Excellent rating and a BER of A3. The project involved the restoration and redevelopment of existing buildings, the retention and refurbishment of a number of protected Georgian structures and the construction of a new seven-storey office block. It wasn’t until 2016 that design work for “Project Fitzwilliam” as it was titled by ESB officially began with site works commencing in 2017. The 45,000 sqm development aimed to provide a near zero energy-rated building and was designed to be one of the most sustainable and efficient office developments in Dublin city. The project was also carefully and respectfully designed in sympathy with the surrounding Georgian streetscape following much controversy and outcry from the conservationist world after it was redeveloped by architect Sam Stephenson in the 1960s.

The ESB occupied an entire city block in a mixture of protected 18th Century buildings and a collection of 20th Century additions. The recent redesign involved a site-responsive set of buildings along Fitzwilliam Street Lower, engaging the Georgian buildings' typical characteristics, with the intention to 'reinstate the unconscious rhythm of the Georgian street' that had been lost in the 1960s.

Considering the rigorous planning and detailed design processes which were undertaken over the last decade, it is no surprise to see this amazing project winning the 2022 “Building of the Year” award at the recent Irish Building & Design Awards. The specification for the Fitzwilliam Street façade was extremely detailed and the initial design, development and approval process between the architects’ 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.

In addition to the MHB steel windows, we designed, fabricated and installed internal doors and fire-rated screens by Schuco for the new seven-storey office block element of the scheme. These not only had to have a minimalist aesthetic but also to provide up to 90 minutes’ fire rating to the lift and entrance lobbies on each floor.

MHB’s steel expertise also came into play for the internal fire-rated and non-fire-rated doors and screens of five luxury apartments which were restored to their former Georgian splendour by renowned conservation architects Shaffrey Architects.

Shaffrey elected to use MHB through KCC due to their products’ super-slim profiles and ability to match the finesse of the original Georgian screens while also providing fire-rating where required to meet current Building Regulations.

KCC also designed and developed bespoke oversized steel external doors for entrance lobbies and courtyard areas. These MHB doors were thermally broken to allow heights of over three metres and provide access control and automation to ensure ease of access for users of all abilities while also serving, in some areas, as fire escape doors.

Last but not least, KCC designed and developed with Grafton Architects three bespoke arched escape doors to complement the MHB windows on the Fitzwilliam Street façade. These arched overclad doors are a beautiful addition to the main façade of the building.

[garrettcoleman]

Hi guys, love those arched escape doors, very beautiful, don't suppose there's any pics or details on them? Is that cladding or are they steel doors? Thanks a mill 😊

[JohnnyMagorish]

The facade looks awful. The jumble of different sized apertures and varied positions is just not pleasing to the eye, and doesn't fit with the uniformity of the adjacent buildings. The empty window spaces remind me of the derelict Georgian houses of the 80s. A missed opportunity to correct Stephenson's crime and restore the Georgian facades.