Main contractor: John Sisk and Sons
Architect: O'Mahony Pike
Engineer: Burke Jenkins

The former docklands on the banks of the River Liffey, Dublin, is being regenerated. Much of the new development is apartment blocks; Dublin has a huge shortage of old housing stock and this, combined with an economic boom and lack of a skilled workforce, has driven house prices to a point where they are higher than those in London. To solve the labour shortage problem, many of these new apartment blocks are built with factory-made, precast concrete components. The cellular and repetitive nature of apartment block design is ideally suited to precast construction; sound reduction at party walls is easy to achieve and the solidity of precast concrete cladding recalls traditional concepts of enclosure.

Hanover Quay, designed by O’Mahony Pike Architects (OMP), is one of the largest docklands developments. Once a gasworks, the site stretches back from the Liffey quayside to the banks of the Grand Canal dock. It is a mixed development, of 13 blocks, 4 to 8 storey high and accommodating 292 one to three-bedroom apartments (including affordable apartments) with basement car parks, a crèche, retail units, a pub and restaurant. The buildings looking directly onto the river contain two lower floors of office/retail units and upper floors of apartments with large balconies, some of which are ‘winter gardens’ with glazed sliding screens.

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