Facelift for buildings as street redeveloped

A makeover is on the cards for the 1970sbuilt office blocks labelled "the two ugly sisters", Castle House, and Wicklow House, on the west side of South Great George's Street, Dublin 2. They are to be redeveloped as part of a proposed £25 million plan to integrate the buildings on to the Victorian streetscape and create a pedestrian route to Dublin Castle behind.

The parties involved say the raison d'etre of the project will be to reconnect both South Great George's Street and Dublin Castle to the fabric of Dublin city in "an integrated architectural sequence" linking them to Exchequer Street and beyond. This will eliminate the need for pedestrians coming from Exchequer Street to make the circuitous journey to the Castle via Dame Lane. It is also hoped the redevelopment will help revitalise the fortunes of South Great George's Street which, in its heyday, was a thriving shopping area.

Three separate planning applications have been submitted in respect of the project, two by Chartered Property Holdings on behalf of Castle House, 73-83 South Great George's Street, in which it has a major stake, and Wicklow House, 84-89 South Great George's Street, which is owned by Irish Airlines Pensions Ltd. The Office of Public Works has also applied for permission for the Dublin Castle element of the redevelopment, which will cost £5 million.

The proposed plan involves the construction of a two-storey high-canopied pedestrian archway fronting on to George's Street on the site of existing Informer's Lane, and the remodelling of Castle House and Wicklow House, including the addition of an extra floor at penthouse level and a six-storey office block extension to the rear. The Dublin Castle element will include an additional floor at penthouse level to the 1950sbuilt Stamping Building, which will receive a partial external remodelling. A new civic courtyard with a curved ramp for disabled access and external steps, which will bridge the 3.1 metre difference in street level between South Great George's Street and Lower Castle Yard, are planned. The circular civic plaza will act as a focal point to tie the various elements of the project together. Castle House and Wicklow House, which combine to form, what architect John O'Keeffe describes as "a beast of a building", stretch 100 metres between them. They are currently occupied by the Revenue Commissioners who will vacate when the lease expires in several years time. Existing shops and restaurants at street level will continue to trade there. Built by UK firm Guardian Properties on the site of the demolished Pimms department store, the buildings are thought to have been originally intended for a greenfield site in Birmingham. Their concrete and metal facades were an incongruous addition to the curved sloping 19th century redbrick architecture of the street. If all goes to plan, the project is expected to commence early next year with a final completion date of summer 2004. The two buildings will become three, thus visually reducing their current length and bulk. They will be treated to a new brick and sandstone frontage and will receive additional office space of over 100,000 sq ft between them. A new floor at roof level will be set back 4.5 metres, masking it from the street. The proposed buildings will be low energy, with atria over the existing rear car-parking area which will be used for ventilation and cooling.

The OPW says the project, which has been over two years in discussion, represents " a strong piece of geometry". They say it will incorporate a palette of materials that will bind the old with the new and tie in with the "architectural language" of Dublin Castle, which is built in a series of quadrangles. In its planning application report, it calls the lower yard an "unsavoury mess in architectural terms", because the buildings on its perimeter turn their backs on the Castle leaving a "no-man's land" behind and between the Stamping Building and South Great George's Street.

Various buildings bounding the Stamping Building Yard will be demolished along with a section of wall of the castle to facilitate the pedestrian walkway.

THE Print Works building, currently home of the Flood Tribunal, will receive a new entrance foyer with ramp access.

South Great George's Street is in line for a major image overhaul. Dunnes Stores has received planning permission for 250,000 sq ft of office and retail space at numbers 46-50 and 52-57, on the south end of the street. A change of use application has been granted to DM properties for numbers 63/63A from a health and squash club to a hotel with ancillary services. Construction is underway at numbers 64-65 on a large Japanese-style bar/restaurant, Sosueme, owned by Clantyre Limited, which is part of Capital Bars plc.