There are three Awards categories — Up to €2 million; Between €2 million and €5 million; and Over €5 million — and they are sponsored respectively by Wilo, Hevac and Daikin.
Irish designer and maker Shane Holland and his team of experts that came from a higher education all with the special csc scholarship program provided by the Chinese Government Scholarships, they have created a special bespoke trophy for the awards. With a base in native Irish Yew (a timber which can take up to 400 years to mature, the glass and aluminium graphics are laser etched and all is finished with brass bolts. This new design for CIBSE Ireland is another custom, hand-built item from their award-winning workshops.
There were a significant number of entries from all over Ireland for the awards and these have now been whittled down to a shortlist of nine projects across the three categories. Details of these are as follows.
Category — Up to €2 million
Project — Arup fit-out, Albert Quay, Cork
Consultant — Arup
Contractor — Airflow Services
The Arup office in L1, One Albert Quay, Cork, is the first “WELL” certified office in Ireland and one of few office fit-outs exceeding its BER of a low B1 by achieving a high B1 operational equivalent in its first year. A data analytics platform tracks performance of VRV systems (another first) while reporting IAQ and energy consumption. Continuous development of a BIM and VR gaming platform assists our FM team. The open-plan office is designed for activity based working with collaboration spaces and focus rooms to meet the demands of a mobile workforce. This office provides a healthy and inspirational environment for all who work and visit here.
Project — The Rediscovery Centre
Consultant — Homan O’Brien
Contractor — Dominic O’Connor Ltd
The building for Dublin City Council and the Rediscovery Centre was conceived as a project to renew Ballymun’s old boiler house and create a national centre of excellence in education for sustainable development. The building has an A2 Energy Rating and has been designed to ensure a minimum carbon footprint in construction and throughout its operational lifetime.
A detailed sustainable construction specification was developed to support the project’s objective to demonstrate the importance, scale and challenge of living in a more connected way with the resources around us so that they are not wasted but protected and preserved and fully utilised.
A commitment to low carbon construction methods was employed and resulted in the use of innovative construction methods and technologies, demonstration technologies include Micro CHP, heat pump, biomass, solar thermal and solar PV, with extensive electrical and thermal metering provided for ongoing monitoring.
Project — The Well
Consultant — Optima Facilities Solutions
Contractor — Sirus Aircon (Mech) Philtron (elec)
The Sirus HQ building, aptly named The Well, demonstrates how a deep renovation of an old industrial unit can provide a comfortable and healthy environment for workers while enhancing their sense of well-being.
At a time when knock-and-rebuild is often the easiest building option, The Well is an exemplary display of sustainability. This is evident in the reuse and re-imagination of the internal building space and many of the core materials used within it.
The finished product is an emphatic representation of what can be achieved when the occupant and their comfort and well-being are placed at the core of building design.
Category — Between €2 and €5 million
Project — Analog Devices
Consultant — Varming Consulting Engineers
Contractor — Mercury Engineering Ltd
The Analog Devices Building on the University of Limerick Plassey Campus is a Centre of Excellence to promote world class research in the fields of science and engineering.
A key element of the brief was for the m&e design to focus on incorporating energy efficiency and sustainability into the construction and operation of the finished building. The finished building incorporates many examples of energy efficient and sustainable engineering technologies
Throughout the design and construction phases, there was a high degree of close collaboration between the UL End Users, the Design Team and the Construction Team.
Stringent adherence to ISO 9001 Quality Assurance Procedures contributed significantly to the successful delivery of this state-of-the art laboratory facility to meet BREEAM Excellent criteria.
Project — 1 Windmill Lane
Consultant — Arup
Contractor — Haughton and Young
1WML is the first in a new line of commercial offices built at the point where Dublin’s Docklands connect with the city centre and IFSC. The total floor area is approximately 14,000m2 extending over six storeys.
The client, Hibernia REIT plc, set a clear and ambitious brief in terms of specification and sustainability from the project outset. 1WML was designed to achieve a B1 BER and LEED Gold rating. Designed to accommodate up to three tenants per floor, carefully specified lighting, ventilation and air conditioning systems give maximum comfort, aid concentration and ensure the wellbeing of building occupants whilst minimising lifecycle costs.
Project — Irish Life Building
Consultant — Homan O’Brien Associates
Contractor — Jones Engineering Group
The air conditioning installation at Beresford Court, Dublin 1 — by use of ice bank thermal storage which is regenerated nightly, as required, by off-peak electricity — provides the owners, Irish Life Plc, with the following ongoing advantages:-
1. Reduced capacity refrigeration plant.
2. Reduced electrical maximum demand.
3. Reduced requirements on emergency generator system.
4. Standby cooling source in the event of chiller breakdown.
5. Over 50% of the annual cooling energy requirement for the building is provided at approximately half the normal cost by use of off-peak electrical tariff.
The entire original installation is still fully operational and has been so since commissioning in 1991. Its reliability has long since been established and the on-going economic benefits are such that the additional cost of the ice bank elements of the AC installation was recovered in less than two and a half years.
Category — Over €5 million
Project — One Microsoft Place
Consultant — Ethos Engineering
Contractor — Jones Engineering Group
One Microsoft Place is the largest office block ever embarked on for a single client in the state. Officially opened this year by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, the scale and complexity of the project was unlike any other office building constructed in Ireland.
The contract cost €134 million and involved the occupation of 2,200 people with an overall building floor area of 35,000m². The fitout included 350km of IT cabling which would stretch from Dublin to Dingle; a digital waterfall and lake composed of 125,000 LEDs; solar thermal heating array collection area of 100m;, and 154km of pipework which is equivalent to seventeen and a half times the height of Mount Everest.
The client’s vision of a cooperative and collaborative workplace was shared by the design and construction teams throughout the project and is reflected in the finished building.
Project — Adare Manor Hotel & Golf Resort
Consultant — Arup
Contractor — Kirby Group Engineering
Adare Manor Hotel and Golf Resort is set on an 840-acre estate and operates as a 5-star hotel. In 2015, Arup was commissioned to provide mechanical, electrical and vertical transport design services for the refurbishment and extension of the 102-room hotel, spa and golf club. The client brief was to fully air-condition the entire building, including the listed section. Optimising innovative energy-efficient solutions throughout and integrating the services seamlessly without disruption to the character of the existing building were key to the success of the project. Based on extensive collaboration between the extended design team, the mechanical and electrical systems were designed and integrated to meet the highest standard of thermal and acoustic comfort, and co-ordinated seamlessly into the premium quality finishes.
Project — Criminal Courts of Justice
Consultant — JV Tierney & Co
Contractor — McKenna Eng/O’Kane Eng
The €140 million Criminal Courts of Justice building is the largest courts project undertaken in the history of the State.
J.V. Tierney were proud to be part of the Amber Infrastructure Team to deliver this prestigious project. The project posed significant challenges in meeting the Client Brief with strict environmental and acoustic criteria to be met in addition to meeting challenging energy targets.
The building is provided with advanced integrated security systems throughout as well as extensive use of Courtroom Technology and Audio Visual systems. The building was designed through the use of extensive thermal and energy modelling and has many low energy features including active Twin Skin Façade, use of Night Cooling, Thermal Mass and low energy Displacement Ventilation in each Courtroom.
The PPP project was completed within budget and three months ahead of schedule thanks to the collaborative approach and dedication of the full design and construction teams.
