Following our recent success at the 2019 Irish Building and Design Awards, our Blackpitts Student Housing Project is shortlisted for an award at the 2020 Irish Construction Excellence Awards. Nominated in the category “Commercial Over €10m” in competition with 3 other major projects across the country, the shortlisting is a recognition of the architectural design quality of the scheme, the high standard of construction execution by BAM Ireland and the innovative nature of the BIM-enabled design and construction management which was employed across the project. The citation is as follows;
Category: Commercial Over €10m
Project: New Mill Student Accommodation
Contractor: BAM Ireland
Client: Global Student Accommodation
Lead Architect: Shay Cleary Architects
Contract Value: €25.5m
Blackpitts Student Accommodation is in the Liberties area of Dublin 8. 296 student rooms and associated communal facilities form a U-shaped perimeter arrangement enclosing a west facing quadrangle courtyard lawn. Practical completion was achieved in 18 months with final cost at 25.5 million.
A BIM Level 2 project using Autodesk BIM 360 and Field tools to streamline communication of data and drawings. The inner-city site had public, residential and organisational impact that was successfully managed by the Project manager acting as community liaison, regular meetings, discussions with community representatives, organisational representatives taking on board their views achieved a constructive and inclusive approach.
The building has been recognised as the innovation in construction winner 2018 for construction and maintenance. The project transformed a brown field site to a green field footprint by creating large expanses of green using all sedum roofs, 85% green area ground landscaping, as well as ground water and rain water harvesting tank that can be used for maintenance of the green areas.
The overall design for the building placed great emphasis on the creation of good public spaces and orientation for natural light throughout the day. With effective design and construction, the building’s outcome went beyond the client’s brief.
