Project Overview

The project comprised of conservation works to the existing protected structure known as “The Billets” whiting the curtilage of Government Buildings and College of Science, located between Merrion Row, Merrion Street, South Road and The Huguenot Cemetery in Dublin 2.

The existing Billets Building, originally an army barracks and a protected structure of 920m² dating from the early 1900’s, was renovated, restored, and converted into a new office building for the Department of Finance. A new five-storey office extending over 3,250m² was also constructed over a double height office space below the ground level, with natural lighting brought down via an internal courtyard. The project was carried out on a very restricted city centre site adjacent to the Huguenot Cemetery on St. Stephen’s Green in Dublin.

The new build included demolition and deep excavation to facilitate the double height underground office space. This included an underground link corridor to the New Department of Finance building (built simultaneously with the conservation project by John Paul Construction) and also to the existing Department of Finance building.

The buildings were finished to an extremely high specification with natural granite ‘bricks’ cladding the exterior, exposing fair-faced concrete with natural timber finishes.