Dolphin House Regeneration – Phase 1

Location: Dolphin House, Dolphin’s Barn, Rialto, Dublin 8, Ireland Year: Completed 2018 Architects: Dublin City Council, City Architects Division Architects, authors: Ali Grehan - City Architect, Stefan Lowe – Project Architect Client: Dublin City Council, Housing and Community Services Civil and Structural: J.B.Barry Name of the photographer: Ros Kavanagh The Dolphin House estate is one of the largest social housing estates in Dublin. Unlike many other regeneration projects, the estate is fully occupied and the principle behind the regeneration is to keep the community intact. The existing apartment buildings had suffered over the years from damp problems due to poor ventilation, inadequate insulation and deficiencies in the building fabric. Phase 1 of the regeneration therefore entailed upgrading three of the existing blocks by deep retrofitting them to attain close to current standards while also adding new build elements to increase the density of the site. The existing green spaces of the estate, generous in size but underutilized were incorporated into the design with the new build elements built at each end of the existing blocks so enclosing them to form new attractively landscaped courtyards. These courtyards, for the first time provided private and secure open space for the residents and their children to enjoy away from the dangers of road traffic.

Both the retrofitting and new build have provided high quality, bright, warm yet energy efficient apartments so helping in alleviating fuel poverty often prevalent in older social housing building stock. In addition, a new street layout has been set up with two and three storey housing now facing the canal providing attractive canal frontage while also ensuring passive supervision of the canal path. New lifts and stair blocks have also been added to the existing blocks so making all units wheelchair accessible.