Dublin’s newest crossing, the Rosie Hackett Bridge, was officially opened his afternoon. From 6am tomorrow morning it will be open for use, for pedestrians, cyclists, buses and taxis. South-bound LUAS trams will use it following the scheduled completion of the LUAS cross city project in 2017.

Lord Mayor Oisin Quinn, said it was an honour to be involved in the opening of the bridge which was named after woman who led Jacob’s workers in the 1913 Lockout, before taking such an active role in trade unionism and the struggle for Irish freedom.

“From 6am, we can say meet me at the Rosie”, he said. “By bike, bus or brogue, we can mosey across the Rosie.

Last night the lighting for the Rosie Hackett Bridge was tested and commissioned. Designed in collaboration with Kevin Cleary & Associates (www.kca.ie), all the light fittings are LED based, being effective and economic, with the minimum energy usage. As well as marking the gateway to the bridge, the four tall lighting masts will provide support for the overhead cables for the LUAS. (Photos 1 and 2; photography by Deirdre Brennan wwwdeirdrebrennan.ie)

Yesterday the finishing touches were being put in place for the opening of the Rosie Hackett Bridge in Dublin. The seasonal planting was lowered into the stainless steel planting troughs, integrated into the hardwood seating on the bridge. Protective plastic sheeting was stripped off to reveal the shiny aluminium bronze leaning rails and everything was given a good clean.The bridge, designed in collaboration with Roughan & O’Donovan Consulting Engineers was built by Graham Projects Ltd for Dublin City Council, and will be officially opened next Tuesday 20th May by the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Oisín Quinn.
See also; http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/landmark-liffey-bridge-ready-for-grand-opening-30276163.html

There have been many wonderful events held under the umbrellas in Meeting House Square. One of our favourites is the recent Secret Garden pop-up restaurant, which was a huge success, being booked out every day while it was on. Lets hope they come back next year!
For info, check out;
www.independent.ie/lifestyle/food-drink/secret-garden-is-a-foodie-fairytale-30255863.html,
and for a cool movie on how it was all put together, see;
http://www.lidl.ie/cps/rde/SID-DDF7DCB6-E1ECB11C/www_lidl_ie/hs.xsl/4083.htm

If you would like to rent out this unique location for your own event, talk to Temple Bar Cultural Trust at;
http://www.meetinghousesquare.ie/

Our community library project in Granard, County Longford, was opened last Thursday by the Minister of Environment, Phil Hogan. It was a great day in Granard, and the sun even came out for the occasion. The event was attended by the whole Longford County Council client team of County Librarian Mary Carleton Reynolds, Longford County Mayor Larry Bannon, County Manager Tim Caffrey, Director of Services Frank Sheridan, librarians Paula Rosemary Gaynor and Paula Mulry, Clerk of Works Milo Lowry, County Heritage Officer Máiréad Ní Chonghaile and many many others who have been instrumental in making the project happen. We are delighted to have worked with builders Frank McKiernan & Sons to complete the rejuvenation of this important Market House building dating from 1810, and hope the people of Granard will enjoy the new community library and meeting hall for many more years to come.

The keenly anticipated completion of the new bridge is almost upon us, and we hope to see the works complete and the bridge in use in the next few days.

The official opening date will be announced shortly

If you have seen our previous ‘News from the Square’ post, you will no doubt be aware of the recent ‘City Vineyard’ intervention by Mc Guigan Wines of Australia. The week long event undoubtedly captured the imagination of anyone that happened across it, and for those of you that may have missed it, Mc Guigan Wines have created a video of the event highlights. Enjoy.

Having previously written about the conceptual design and building layout of the new nursery school at Sillogue, we now conclude with the development of the design in cross section, and the environmental considerations.

As seen in our previous post, the main classroom accommodation spans north to south, enabling the classrooms to benefit from a westerly aspect. This has proven to be quite beneficial in controlling heat loss, as it enables the building to have almost no windows on the colder northern edge, and limited windows to the overshadowed east elevation. In addition, the openings on the south facade of the classroom block are limited to a series of small individual ‘spyholes’ arranged in a star constellation (the pattern of which will be clearly visible outside the building when the internal lights are lit on dark winter’s evenings), so there are no concerns of excessive solar gain to this facade.

The main west facade has therefore required most attention in our attempt to balance the competing demands of limiting heat loss, reducing solar gain and ensuring adequate daylight and ventilation. The placing and sizing of windows has therefore been critical, and the eventual configuration of 4 generous windows arranged in a grid ensures that the higher level windows allow daylight to penetrate deep into the room, with the lower windows maintaining views into the courtyard and beyond. In addition, each room features a further lower ‘spyhole’ window, by means of a door or small fixed window at floor level, at a height suitable for small children.

The glazing used has a reasonably high G-value of 0.34, to prevent excessive solar gain. Thermal dynamic modelling of the building has proven that natural ventilation is adequate for almost all of the building, with cooling only provide as a back-up to the catering specification kitchen and infant sleeping areas, if required.

Although the external walls are generally constructed in blockwork and brickwork, the west facade is constructed in 225mm deep timber joists to allow greater flexibility in window positioning. The voids between are full filled with quilt insulation, and in combination with the 50mm cold bridging insulation internally, it achieves a U-value of 0.13W/m2K.

The timber structure is the perfect substrate for the Tegral cladding boards. These have been configured in various widths in a series of stacked horizontal bands, each separated by a sloping Tegral sill detail. Mixed with the largely white coloured panels are a series of randomly located, narrow recessed grey coloured slots to accommodate the ventilation outlets and smaller ‘spyhole’ windows. In addition, highlights of colour are used at window locations. This rich, colourful and animated main elevation, inspired by the grid-based paintings of Piet Mondrian, contrasts nicely with the remaining simple and understated elevations in brick and painted render.

The building has now just been completed, and Our Lady’s Nursery are due to move into the building shortly. We would like to take the opportunity to wish Sr. Majella and her staff many years of happiness in their new home.

In the past few weeks we had an opportunity to visit the Monaghan Model School building again. This ongoing project is currently at Department of Education Stage 2B (detailed design) and our visit formed part of the current investigation work to the existing building.

The main focus of the day was to assess the condition of the existing external joinery to the building. Remarkably the original windows and doors remain in 95% of the building and are in reasonably good condition throughout. As we continue to find ourselves thinking more and more about airtightness, thermal breaks, U-values, G-values in our new build projects it was refreshing to see such an old technology still proving its worth in a working building. The teachers may not agree – particularly given the inability to open many of the windows due to broken mechanisms.

We were joined for a few hours on our visit by a Master Carpenter and had an interesting discussion on techniques to restore, repair and improve the performance of the windows to ensure they can continue to serve the building.

The building has continued to be used as a school since its construction some 150 years ago. The current project seeks to return the classrooms in the existing building to their original configuration, and construct new classrooms and ancillary spaces to the rear. A clearly defined new entrance will be provided and a well-defined circulation spine will link all elements of the new and existing part of the school.

For further information see http://www.sha.ie/index.php/projects/education-detail/monaghan_model_school