OBAIR Bulletin from the office of PuBlic Works Issue 20 : DecemBeR 2008 Wexford oPera house, Battle of the Boyne Visitor centre, castletoWn - nui archiVe and research centre, aPPreciation of cholmeley dering choleley-harrison, the Phoenix Park Visitor centre
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Bulletin from the office of PuBlic Works Issue 20 : DecemBeR 2008
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OBAIRBulletin from the offic
e of PuBlic Works
Issue 20 : DecemBeR 2008
Wexford oPera house, Battle of th
e Boyne Visitor centre,
castletoWn - nui archiVe and research centre,
aPPreciation of cholmeley dering choleley-harrison,
the Phoenix Park Visitor centre
2
contents
3 introduction
4 Wexford opera house
7 Phoenix Park Visitor centre
10 david Byers
12 castletown house/nui partnership. strokestown
14 Websites relaunch
16 tribute to chomneley harrison
19 dublin Zoo/haughton house refurbishment.
22 Pearse museum
26 inis and Psa openings, tipperary. town
28 Battle of the Boyne improvement works
30 staffing lists
Images: deer
in Phoenix Park;
Wexford opera
house (above).
interior of major
cholmeley-
harrison’s estate
at emo, co laois
(opposite page).
Pearse museum in
rathfarnham (cover)
WelcOme
Welcome to issue 20 of oBair magaZine, the year-end edition for 2008 2008 was another busy and challenging year for the
oPW and in this edition we bring you details of some
of the projects on which the office has been working
over the last six months.
We feature articles on the newly refurbished
haughton house, which opened in dublin Zoo recently
and new premises for both the irish naturalisation and
immigration service and the Private security authority
in county tipperary. september saw the opening of the
newly redesigned Wexford opera house, a landmark
cultural building for the south-east, which garnered
great praise for the many oPW staff who were
involved on the project. We also bring you further
details of the Visitor facilities at the Battle of the
Boyne site in oldbridge, county meath which opened
in may 2008 and featured heavily in the last issue
of this magazine. on a similar theme we bring you an
item on the Phoenix Park Visitor centre and on a new
partnership between the nui and castletown house.
you may have noticed that some of our websites
have undergone a transformation in recent months.
We bring you details of the new content management
system whereby trained staff can now make
changes to our websites locally.
sadly, tragedy touched the office in the second half
of 2008 with the sudden and premature deaths of
both commissioner david Byers and eamon healy,
gsa, claremorris. to both their families we offer our
sincere condolences. also this year, the man who
donated emo court to the state, major. cholmeley d.
harrison passed away, just short of his hundredth
birthday, and this issue features an appreciation of
his life and extraordinary benevolence.
thank you, as always, to all our colleagues who
contributed articles for inclusion in this edition of the
magazine. We welcome all contributions, no matter
how big or how small. keep them coming!
We hope you enjoy this edition of your obair magazine.
george moir
kevin kennedy
Jenny dimond
Obair editorial Team
obair - december 2008 3
Wexford oPera house
this project began in 2003 when the oPW was
requested by the dept of arts, sport and tourism,
in its role as major funding provider, to review
various options then under consideration for the
redevelopment of the theatre royal, home of the
world-famous Wexford opera festival. the condition
of the existing theatre was deteriorating, and its
facilities were extremely cramped both for audience
and performers. it had been operating at full capacity
for the nine previous festivals, and a major increase
in capacity was required in order for the festival to
continue and develop. early oPW feasibility studies
indicated that the existing theatre could not be
usefully extended any further, and the selected
development option was complete new-build, on a
site now doubled in size. oPW architectural services
worked in collaboration with the client’s specialist
consultants – who advise on acoustic and theatre
planning matters - to produce an agreed brief and
budget at the end of 2003. the oPW submitted a
planning application in July 2004, and permission
was granted in november 2004. matters then lay in
abeyance whilst final funding arrangements were
being finalised, and the momentum of the project
resumed in september of 2005, with a construction
budget of €30 million and the appointment of a full
design team, which included oPW m+e services and
keith Williams architects, working in collaboration with
oPW architectural services; arup acoustics, carr and
angier, arup consulting engineers and nolan ryan, Qs.
the project timetable was extremely tight, as it
would not have been feasible for the organisation
to produce more than two annual festivals without a
premises of its own. full detail design was developed
over the subsequent seven months, and the contract
documentation was sent to tender in april 2006. in the
meantime, the last opera festival in the old theatre
royal concluded on 6th november 2005, and the
building was cleared for demolition the following week.
separate contracts for demolition, soil contamination
testing, archaeological investigations and the
construction of a new esB substation, were carried
out over the following months, and the site was
handed over to the selected contractor, cleary doyle
contracting ltd, on July 3rd 2006, three days after the
archaeologist’s team vacated the site. all the major
milestones of the project were achieved practically to
the day, and the completed building was handed over
on 1st august 2008. oPW continued to be involved,
particularly through its m+e engineering services, in
commissioning the very complex installations over
the subsequent months, whilst the opera festival
organisation established itself in the building and
performers, directors, designers and technical teams
arrived in early september, to begin rehearsal for the
2008 festival.
WexfORD
4
Images: Wexford
by night (above).
Wexford opera
house interior
(opposite page).
Wexford opera
house exterior
(page 6).
obair - december 2008 5
6
the new Wexford opera house was formally opened
by an taoiseach, Brian cowen td, on friday 5
september 2008, and the occasion was marked with
a broadcast of rte’s the late late show, bringing
this publicly-funded, unique cultural asset to the
immediate attention of a nationwide audience.
the building is the first purpose-built opera house
in ireland in modern times. it features a main
auditorium for 780 persons, and a multi-purpose
“black-box” performing space for 170, in addition to
several rehearsal spaces, production and front
of house facilities and offices. the main auditorium
contains two double-decker orchestra pit lifts, which
allows for many different configurations, for opera,
dance, drama, conferences, smaller recitals, etc.
two principal objectives inform the design of the
auditorium: traditional horseshoe-shaped balconies
bring the audiences in the upper tiers into closer
contact with the action on stage, and populate
the side walls at three levels, enlivening the room;
and, uniquely in a music venue, all the surfaces of
the auditorium are clad in walnut, while precision-
crafted lighting bridges hang from the ceiling,
the combination calling to mind the materials and
craftsmanship of a stringed instrument. externally,
the bulk of the building is concealed behind the
reinstated houses of historic high st, whilst the fly
tower over the stage becomes the only element
visible from distant viewpoints, a landmark indicating
the presence of a unique new building. as such, it is
clad in copper, a material long associated with civic
buildings in irish towns and cities; and its shape,
opening outwards and upwards to the sky, evokes
the aspirations for the artistic activities within.
ciarán mcgahon
Architectural services
obair - december 2008 7
the Phoenix Park Visitor centre
the Phoenix Park Visitor centre is situated on
the grounds of the old Papal nunciature and
is signposted from the Phoenix monument on
chesterfield avenue, the main road in the park.
the complex comprises the modern Visitor centre,
the restored seventeenth century ashtown castle,
the Phoenix cafe, a cobbled courtyard for eating al
fresco, the nineteenth century walled garden and a
state of the art new childrens playground.
aras an uachtarain and the american ambassador’s
residence are the other two main buildings within
hailing distance.
the Visitor centre, a two storied structure in the old
stables of the Papal nunciature, was opened to the
public in september 1992 and is set in an attractive
landscaped environment. the Phoenix Park is
renowned for its beautiful trees of oak, beech, horse
chestnuts and lime and the Visitor centre is beside
an arboretum incorporating many beautiful old trees
such as yew, cypress and giant redwood.
Besides the spacious car parking facilities close to
the Visitor centre there is now a hop-on hop-off
Phoenix Park shuttle Bus with commentary, which
provides direct access to the Visitor centre from
Parkgate street every 30 minutes from 7am – 7pm
monday to friday and 10am – 7pm saturday and
sunday and Public holidays, stopping at dublin Zoo,
farmleigh, st. mary’s hospital, Papal cross amongst
other stops of interest.
the Visitor centre provides an enjoyable
interpretation of the park, one the largest enclosed
recreational spaces within any european capital city.
the Phoenix Park is larger than all of london’s city
parks put together and more than twice the area of
new york’s central Park.
Visitor numbers to the Visitor centre in 2007 were
38,427. this year’s numbers will show a marked
increase on last year’s due to the many new
initiatives implemented by the Park superintendent/
historic Properties along with free admission to the
site from January 2007.
staff at the Visitor centre have a wide range of
activities as part of a normal days work - dispensing
admission tickets, answering queries on the history,
flora and fauna of the park, operating audio visual
equipment, liaising with Park rangers re reporting of
lost dogs, etc., and giving information on the Visitor
centre and places of local interest to groups that
include school groups and visitors from all over the
world. Visitors can step back in time with free guided
PhOenIx PARk
8
tours of ashtown castle which are available daily at
11am, 12.00pm, 2.00pm, 3.pm and 4pm. there is also an
audio visual on the Phoenix Park through the ages
or on the history of aras an uachtarain which takes
about 20 minutes for visitors to enjoy.
sundays are usually the busiest day with a free
children’s Workshop from 10.30am – 12.30pm
incorporating themes of nature awareness, history/
heritage and arts and crafts into a creative and fun
learning environment for children on the art kart
area on the first floor. talks and walks and other
events from discovering ecology with live exhibits
of creepy crawlies, lizards and frogs to historical
re-enactments with visiting re-enactors along with
guides dressed up in medieval costume take place
every month. a full programme of events is published
every six months and is available from various
outlets including the Visitor centre, 51 st. stephens
green reception and the oPW intranet.
art exhibitions and demonstrations change on a
monthly basis in the exhibition room with local and
Images: deer at
the Papal cross in
Phoenix Park, dublin
(previous page).
margaret mcguirk,
roy Barron, and
alex gomez martin
in medieval costume
(above), Pauline
kennedy in medieval
costume (left). duke
exhition at Phoenix
Park Visitor centre
(opposite page).
obair - december 2008 9
national artists’ exhibits enhancing the stone walls
and cobbled floor of the restored old stables.
free guided tours to aras an uachtarain take place
on saturdays from the Visitor centre every hour
from 10.30am to 3.30pm and the cycle lanes in the
park are seeing an increase in use with a bike hire
facility which is available at the Parkgate street
entrance (contact 086 2656258). the first saturday
of every month is also a busy time for the Phoenix
Park gardeners who are available to the public in
the restored Victorian kitchen walled garden from
10.30am answering questions on soil preparation,
plant propagation and much more.
this summer saw new oPW summer camps for
children in association with eco unesco launched
at the Visitor centre with almost 300 children
discovering nature in the Phoenix Park through fun
activities in a safe and educational environment.
We hope to continue with this successful venture
next summer and in addition are rolling out modules
on environmental awareness from January 09 to
Primary schools on trees, mammals, heritage, eco
art and sustainability based on the Primary school
curriculum.
the interpretive and educational programmes at
the Phoenix Park Visitor centre increase visitor
awareness of the significance of the Park and its
features and for the wider work of the oPW in
general. the Park has something for everyone
to enjoy whether in passive or active recreation
and we hope you will pay us a visit in the not too