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Coillte's Bright New Headquarters |
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Written by Catherine Rountree
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Tuesday, 30 November 2004 |
Coillte’s new Headquarters at Newtownmountkennedy is a credit to all concerned.
Designed by Duncan Stewart and assoc. and built using timber as the primary construction
material, they are functional and very, very beautiful. There is a lightness both
in the structure and in the natural light filtering through the building. In fact
light is a key concept throughout this design. Offices are bright and airy, meeting
rooms have glass doors opening out into the corridors. There is a new aura of
transparency creeping through the corridors.
The building is designed to be energy efficient and is heated using a wood chip
burner. This ambient temperature is ideal both for the people working in Coillte
but also for the timber which is left exposed and untreated. As Duncan says, dry
timber is not attractive for wood-boring insects and rots.
The first section of the NMKennedy offices was completed in 1997 and was base
for Coillte’s Southern region management staff. The second phase which was
completed several months ago was factory built by Griffner Coillte in Mullingar.
The two structures join together to form the company’s Corporate Headquarters.
Previously Coillte’s corporate affairs were managed from Leeson Lane offices.
The building covers 25,000 square feet of floor area and is the workplace for
more than 100 of the company’s staff.
This is a jewel of an office space. If everyone could work in environments like
this, productivity could only increase. It is also a fine thing to see a company
practising what it preaches and using it’s own renewable resources. Let
us hope that all of Ireland’s semi-states and state departments take a leaf
out of this. So Bord na Mona will be unveiling a lovely snug sod structure, The
Dept. of Ag. will be popping up strawbale structures willy-nilly, but what would
a new Dail be built with?
Best answers win a nice renewable sample of the Dail's’ best by-product.
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