AN GARDA SÍOCHÁNA HEADQUARTERS

AN GARDA SÍOCHÁNA HEADQUARTERS

AN GARDA SÍOCHÁNA HEADQUARTERS

An Garda Síochána Headquarters in Phoenix Park is one of Ireland’s most famous public buildings, built in 1842 for the new Constabulary, and first occupied by the new An Garda Síochána in 1923. PJ Hegarty won the contract for the restoration, conversion and extension of the facility, while Garda operations remained unaffected. The works consisted of refurbishing and converting the listed building J Block into a new control centre, and refurbishment and extension to the existing gate lodge, which is also a listed building.

Client : OPW
Service : Public sector
Architect : Cloonan O’Donnell Architects
Structural engineer : McCabe Delaney
Value : €9.5 million

The J Block’s stone facade was damaged due to years of neglect, and refurbishment works included replacing individual and large sections of stone, cleaning the remaining stone and re-pointing using various lime mortar mixes. Due to extreme damage, large areas of the roof needed to be replaced.

We employed best historical practices to remove, refurbish and replace existing windows and external metal fixings. We also replaced rainwater pipes where possible. In cases where sections were beyond repair, we installed accurate replicas of gutters to replace the originals.