Premier Construction

Waterways House Dublin

Waterways
Written by Roma Publications

Waterways House

The site for Waterways House was previously occupied by a modest two storey mid-20th century office building. The plot depth is unusually narrow at approximately nine metres wide but relatively long at approximately 54.5 metres. Directly to the north is an open Plaza that accommodates the entrance to the Waterways Ireland Building, the ‘box on the docks.’ Further along is the Alto Vetro Apartment tower which is recognised as an important architectural addition to Dublin. To the south is a Protected Structure, the Malt House.

The design of the replacement building, which won the award for Commercial Project of the Year – Small at the 2019 Irish Construction Industry Awards, has a fairly straight forward rational. Conceptually it is a white narrow box sitting on the site with three planes of glass hanging over the water. These planes tilt through three different axes; horizontal, vertical and diagonal producing a set of slightly differing reflections of water, buildings and sky.

The lightness of the cantilevered planes is anchored by the solid white box, perforated with window opening. Floors one to five cantilever out over the Grand Canal Basin to form a spectacular glazed façade. The objective of the cantilevers, in addition to achieving a viable floor area, was also to make a strong connection with the Canal basin and the activity on the water.

The building is part six storey, part seven storey. This height relates comfortably to the surrounding structures. The verticality of Alto Vetro still dominates this corner of the basin and Waterways House steps down with a more horizontal emphasis, acting as a transition to the long Malt House building, a protected structure.

The exterior of the building has a palette of three materials, structural glazing, ceramic glazed brick and Krion; a new generation solid surface, it is hard wearing, highly resistant, easy to repair and requires only minimal maintenance.
The structure is steel frame with lateral stability provided by concrete core walls. The structure is supported on pile caps and capping beams which are supported on 17m in length piles. The ground floor is cast in-situ concrete with all other floors made from wide slab pre-cast units.

Waterways House is located on Grand Canal Quay with direct frontage on to Grand Canal Dock. The immediate area is popularly known as Dublin’s ‘Silicon Docks,’ due to the prominence of high tech companies preferring this as their HQ location. Google, Facebook, Stripe and Twitter are all headquartered within minutes from Waterways House.

The project strategy was to realise the full potential of a valuable ‘Silicone Dock’ site, maximising the sites potential, both in terms of nett lettable floor space, but also in terms of the unique site setting. The strategy was to expand the available footprint by cantilevering over the Grand Canal. The objective was achieved through extensive liaison with Waterways Ireland, the innovative structural design undertaken by Arup and carefully considered architectural design in order to satisfy the client and the city council requirements.

The project was unique in its innovative use of the available site space. The site footprint is utilised 100% in addition to this; significant additional floor space is achieved by cantilevering the floorplates over the Grand Canal from fist to fifth floor. The cantilever design and the complex arrangement of tilting glass facades required ingenuity on the part of the architects, Smith and Kennedy, the Structural Engineers Arup’s and in implementation by Sisk.

The choice of materials for this building was also a unique feature. The exterior of the building has a palette of three materials – structural glazing, glazed brick and Krion. This building is the first high rise building in Ireland to use the solid surface curtain walling system of Krion by Porcelanosa. Krion is a new generation solid surface developed in Spain. It is a material that is warm to the touch and similar to natural stone. It is made of two-thirds natural minerals and a low percentage of high-resistance resins. This composition gives Krion a number of exclusive features: it does not have any pores, it is anti-bacterial without any type of additive, and it is hard-wearing, highly resistant, is easy to repair, only requires minimum maintenance and is easy to clean.

In addition to the innovative strategies of the cantilever, the unique selection of the materials, the architectural expression for this building is unlike any other building in Dublin and adds significantly to the rich architectural heritage of the Grand Canal Basin with its eclectic mix of buildings both in terms of history and architecture. Waterways House enhances the idea of a collection of buildings, each with its own personality in an area that differs significantly from more organised and homogenous districts around the city.

Waterways

Titan Roofing Ltd

Titan Roofing Ltd began trading in July 2015 with two Directors, Keith Proudfoot and Stephen Kennedy. Due to the phenomenal start-up success with high profile clients and projects secured in the first six months, the company entered 2016 with expansion plans.

In 2018, the company began installing a number of new products to the market. This required further recruiting and training of our existing staff but a progressive team with good values and team morale is now on hand.
In 2019 Titan Roofing was awarded Sub-Contractor of the Year at the Irish Construction Industry Awards.

The company was recently involved with Waterways House, where it was engaged by SISK as the specialist installer for Soprema Waterproofing and Green Roof. The system installed meets the required 20 year Warranty and LEED requirements.

Keith Proudfoot, Director, commented:
“This was a fantastic project because of the design complexity and the building location. It is a new Landmark in Dublin’s Grand Canal area.

“We pride ourselves on our technical ability to design and install systems in difficult circumstances, without compromising safety or quality of the finished product. The achievements of this company within this short space of time is phenomenal and a credit to the whole team at Titan Roofing Ltd. We cannot forget the clients and suppliers that gave us the opportunities and we look forward to continued success in 2020.”

To find out more, please visit www.titanroofing.ie.

 

 

 

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Roma Publications