Engineers Ireland

About the event

The St Mary’s Kilkenny project is unique in an Irish context, the complete restoration and conservation of Ireland’s last ‘hidden’ 13th century  urban church to the highest standards for re-use as a museum. The original building located behind High Street in Kilkenny was a cruciform shape added to over many centuries; after the Reformation sections were removed including the nave aisles and the chancel. The new museum required additional space and a climate controlled room for precious objects. Following careful archaeological investigation, the team proposed to rebuild sections of the church on the original foundations using contemporary structures and materials, returning the church to something of the spatial complexity it had around AD 1500. Taking place in a graveyard, this work required the highest levels of co-ordination within the design team and between design team and the client Kilkenny County Council.

This talk will show the Engineer’s, Architect’s, and Client’s perspective of the complete restoration and conservation of Ireland’s last ‘hidden’ 13th century urban church to the highest standards for re-use as a museum.

About the speakers

Ian Crehan Chartered Engineer
Ian has been involved in the successful planning and design of a wide range of projects throughout Ireland, ranging from a mix of commercial, educational, healthcare and residential developments. His expertise mainly deals with the structural design of projects. Together with his experience in new-build structures, Ian has also worked on a number of refurbishment/restoration of historical structures for which he has a keen interest. Ian is committed to working as part of an overall design team while also taking into account the specific needs and requirements of each project in order to deliver the most efficient and economical structural solution.

Niall McCullough and Ronan O'Connor
Niall and Ronan work in McCullough Mulvin Architects, a design-based practice interested in making thoughtful architecture. They have worked on cultural and civic buildings, libraries, university and healthcare projects in Dublin and throughout Ireland, designing from the ground or making innovative modern interventions into existing buildings and contexts- contemporary architecture unafraid of history or place. Work in Trinity College and in places such as the Dublin Dental Hospital, Rush Library, the Military Archives and the Blackrock Senior College use radical conservation to challenge perceived ideas about how our cites should develop and grow. The work of McCullough Mulvin Architects is extended by publication, teaching and research in Ireland, Europe, the USA and India. Their latest project involves the design of a new University campus in the Punjab, India.

Evelyn Graham
Evelyn is Kilkenny County Council’s Project Liaison Architect for the St.Mary’s Church project. She graduated from DIT Bolton Street School of Architecture in 1986 and became a Fellow of the RIAI in 2015. The bulk of Evelyn’s career has been spent as architect with Kilkenny County Council dealing with Housing and Corporate buildings, a number of which are protected structures. She recently served a three year term as Architectural Conservation Officer. For the last two years she has been working full-time as Project Liaison Architect on a number of key conservation projects in Kilkenny City including St.Mary’s Church “Medieval Mile Museum” and the new Butler Gallery at Evans Home which is due to commence in mid-2017.

Admission

Free - all are welcome to attend.