Dublin City University, DCU | Campus Enhancement Works

Overview

The college has almost 20,000 students, so keeping the area attractive was a hugely important consideration.

The works involved the removal and relaying of new granite pavers over a substantial portion of the area, together with new street furniture. We replaced all existing hard surfaces on site with discrete new soft landscaping.

The Campus remained open throughout all works with restricted access and egress to the work areas. Works in this live environment required detailed planning and agreed methodologies to plan the works and mitigate interactions with the College’s employees, students, and the public. Works were adjacent to existing live buildings and facilities, which we maintained full access to throughout the works.

All fire and emergency escape routes were maintained throughout the works, which was of paramount importance. There were major changes made to subsurface infrastructure during this phase, including a new surface of granite paving. We removed and demolished all redundant services, which, as a result, improved performance.  We installed new electrical services throughout the area, including energy-efficient luminaires, with testing and checking of underground services to remove any redundant services.

The new landscaping works introduced several innovative features to the Public Realm, both in the soft landscaping and in bespoke street furniture. These included a solar panel-powered smart bench and tably perforated steel tables. We also installed aesthetically pleasing benches and stools, some with USB charging facilities, precast seating & stainless-steel cycle stands. New ACO drains, bollards, and lighting columns matching the aesthetics of the scheme were also provided. Finally, we installed a wayfinding scheme throughout the work area.