The early part of 2023 saw Clancy delivering an award-nominated conservation project in the form of the Trinity College Rubrics Building. Lorcan Hickey was its Project Manager and filled Building Ireland in on its details, the current projects the company has on-going and what separates Clancy from the competition.
The busy times carry on at Clancy as it continues to add to its extensive portfolio by delivering more excellent projects for its clients nationwide.
Earlier this year, the Co Tipperary-headquartered firm completed its now award-nominated work on The Rubrics Building at Trinity College.
A project that spanned a little over 18 months, Clancy was immensely proud to hand it over to the client and see it nominated for the Contractor Conservation Project of the Year at this year’s Irish Construction Industry (ICI) Awards.
Building Ireland heard more from Lorcan Hickey on the project, the team involved and what makes Clancy a specialist when it comes to conservation work on major projects.
In June 2021 following a very successful project at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the team got its work underway at Trinity College. Originally built between 1699 and 1702, the Rubrics Building sits as the oldest standing building on the Trinity College campus and is also known to be the oldest domestic structure in Dublin. “The project included providing 22 one-bedroom units, 9 study bedrooms with communal living facilities and 204m2 of research rooms. As part of the works all 88 sash/casement windows were removed, refurbished and re-installed. Full mechanical, electrical and structural upgrades were carried out which included preserving the existing roof members and floor joists. The roof was also re-laid with a Valentia slate; believed to be the original slate type for the roof. The works also included the provision of a modern, below ground plant-room with a ground source heat pump being installed for the heating and hot water system.
The Clancy team overseeing the works included Ian Morrissey (Contracts Manager), and Site Managers Bernard Cunniffe, Cillian Burke and Shea Boggan. Francis O’Herlihy managed the mechanical and electrical coordination, Darren McGuckian lead the site engineering tasks and Colm Hackett was our ever present Health & Safety lead throughout the works.
Speaking on the details of the project itself, Lorcan pointed out how incredibly fragile the building structure itself was and the endeavours that went in to ensuring that all works were carried out to the highest standard. “As we navigated our way through the historical layers of work previously carried out on the building, a collaborative approach with the client, the clients project managers WH Stephens, Pascall & Watson Architects, BB7 Fire Safety Consultants, Carrig Conservation and Aecom Consulting engineers were key in establishing the best route forward to execute the works.”
Additional considerations in planning the works included archaeological discoveries. A medieval foundation predating the Rubrics was found and also a sandstone window mullion dated to the 14th century and linked to an earlier building on the site was discovered. The team’s close working relationship with the IAC Archaeology team allowed these discoveries to be recorded and managed appropriately, without significant impact on the construction operations.
“It was a privilege to work on this building and it’s great to see the recognition the project has received. There was an incredible amount of teamwork and collaboration was involved with the Trinty team, their design team and specialist subcontractors throughout the project”.
With origins dating all the way back to 1947, how has Clancy Construction continued to stand the test of time and held such an excellent reputation amongst its clients along the way?
Speaking in regard to the company’s conservation work, Lorcan says the collaborative approach it takes with its clients on these conservation projects are key to the success. These projects will always throw up surprises and it’s how you communicate and collaboratively manage these that ensures the delivery of these projects to everyone’s satisfaction. Clancy has 6 core values it lives by when executing projects and these continue to be the keystones to their success.
Clancy
Ballylusky,
Drangan,
Thurles,
Co Tipperary.
Tel: 052 91 52166
Email: [email protected]
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, January 2024, Vol 10 No 1
