CASE STUDY Focus Ireland reception space.
C ro ss-sec tor collaboration de livers h i g h -s p e c o ff i c e r e f u r b i s h m e n t The renovation and f o r F o c u s Ir e la n d refurbishment of Focus Ireland’s offices on High Street, Dublin 8, was completed by a team comprising over 60 construction professionals, specialist contractors and tradespeople, all of whom provided their services free of charge. Robbie Cousins reports.
H
eaded up by project managers KMCS, the core project team on the refurbishment of Focus Ireland’s head office in Dublin 8 included MOLA Architecture; Ethos Engineering; fire safety engineer Maurice Johnson & Partners; structural engineer Barrett Mahony; sustainability consultant Meehan Green; and main contractor T&I Fitouts.
PROJECT BACKGROUND
Following a Focus Ireland presentation at an industry event in 2018, Nigel Spence, Managing Director, KMCS, and Fiona Mullally, Business Development Director, met with Aisling Nolan, Head of Partnerships & Philanthropy, Focus Ireland, to see if there was a way in which the project and cost management consultant could use
Amy Carr, Director of Fundraising, Focus Ireland; Pat Dennigan, CEO, Focus Ireland; Sr Stanislaus Kennedy, President, Focus Ireland; Nigel Spence, Managing Director, KMCS; Fiona Mullally, Business Development Director, KMCS; Ralph Bingham, Director, MOLA Architecture; and Aisling Nolan, Head of Partnerships & Philanthropy, Focus Ireland. its expertise to support the homelessness charity. “Following this meeting, Focus Ireland asked if we would look at their accommodation buildings and suggest interventions that could be made to make them more comfortable and user-friendly for customers,” explains Fiona Mullally. “With two of our regular project collaborators, MOLA Architecture and Maurice Johnson & Partners, we assessed one of Focus Ireland’s buildings for architectural and fire safety concerns and devised a standard specification that they could present to main contractors to use to make premises fit for purpose.” In 2019, KMCS, MOLA Architecture and
Maurice Johnson assessed Focus Ireland’s head offices on High Street, Dublin 8. This survey revealed that the building needed an urgent and complete refurbishment to make it fit for purpose and more comfortable for staff, customers, donors and supporters. “The building was in a very poor state of repair and needed vast upgrading,” Fiona Mullally explains. “Focus Ireland’s commitment to providing services to their customers meant that over the years, they spent the absolute minimum on maintaining the building. The brief was to ensure that the building was brought back to full health and safety compliance in the first instance and then provide a fit for purpose space for staff to carry out their incredible work.
irishconstructionnews 25 December 2021
