Stewart Construction, Salthill, Galway has won the prestigious ‘Project of the Year’ award at the Irish Construction Excellence Awards (ICE Awards ) held at a Gala Event in the Convention Centre Dublin (CCD ) recently.
The iconic landmark Central Plaza project (former Central Bank Headquarters ) on Dame St., Dublin was undertaken by Stewart Construction on a Construction Management basis and achieved LEED Gold, environmental certification on completion. The original Central Bank building was designed by architect Sam Stephenson and construction was completed in 1978.
The building design and construction methods displayed pioneering technical innovation. This was a significant investment and a brave undertaking for Hines (one of the largest privately held real estate investors in the world ) who acquired the building in 2017, in partnership with the Peterson Group (a family-owned private entrepreneurial company based in Hong Kong ). Works by Stewart Construction included the refurbishment of the seven stories of offices contained in the Tower Building while the building’s exterior remained largely preserved with a new public plaza area created along with units for retail, cafes and restaurants.
The top-most level of the Tower, the crowning glory of Central Plaza, was re-imagined as a glass-roofed, split level hospitality space incorporating a 360° viewing terrace around the entire perimeter of the building, with a breath-taking view of Dublin’s city scape. The project represents one of the largest redevelopment projects that Dublin City has ever seen, and the reimagining of the city centre property to a new space is in line with Project Ireland 2040.
The success of the project has been all about applying new thinking and modern design and construction to redefine and sustain this building to ensure it remains both relevant and valued well into the future.
This rejuvenation and retrofitting of such an iconic city centre property was not for the faint hearted and the sustainable reuse and reimagining of this city centre building by the project team results in a significant reduction in carbon emissions.
The Irish Construction Excellence Awards (ICE Awards ) provide an opportunity for the industry to showcase and reward best practice across the full range of construction disciplines and project categories.
