The iconic St James’s Gate brewery in Dublin has been the home of Guinness since 1759. Once known as a ‘city within a city’, it boasted its own railway line, medical department and fire brigade.
Following significant investment since 2011 and employing advances in brewing technology, 12.6 acres of its nearly 50 acre site are now to be rejuvenated by Ballymore in a venture that aims to open up the site, using new and existing buildings to create a dynamic mixed-use urban quarter. Under the regeneration, the site will remain at the heart of the local community, breathing new life into valued heritage, while boosting regeneration of the wider city.
Key information
- Location:
- Dublin, Ireland
- Date started:
- 2018
- Completion date:
- 2030
- Client type:
- Real Estate (Developer)
- Main services:
- Cost management
Major project
With an overall area in excess of 200,000m², the planned development aims to deliver a new neighbourhood with over 500 residential units, 300 hotel beds and 100,000m² of office space alongside retail, bars, restaurants, venues and community uses and an extensive public realm.
The scheme represents one of the most significant developments in Ireland, both in terms of its size and historical and cultural importance and focusses on making an entirely new place within the city.
Net-zero ambitions
The new development will be carefully integrated into the existing uses and precious history of this unique site, whilst delivering on developer Ballymore’s ambition for St James’s Gate to be the city’s first zero carbon district.
The project’s zero carbon plans involve assessment of existing assets for re-use, retaining and re-purposing, along with an appropriate and sensitive new build. It also involves examining all available renewable energy sources alongside exploring other means for how ‘zero-energy ratings’ can be met.
Robust commercial management
Appointed as cost managers at the outset of this development, we have provided cost advice to Ballymore from the outset of their involvement in the scheme.
When supporting their bid proposal, we employed advanced cost modelling techniques to provide elemental estimating at a very early stage, enhancing the accuracy of their submission.
Following Ballymore becoming the successful developer for St James’s Gate, our commercial management role continued with a strong focus on driving cost and design efficiency, and accuracy of forecasts given the large and complex nature of the scheme.
Our communication and reporting was tailored specifically for Ballymore and had to be robust and transparent to give certainty and clarity to all the Ballymore Stakeholders.
Identifying client needs
Alongside our work with Ballymore in Dublin, we have a strong track record of successfully working with them in other locations, including on the Embassy Gardens project in London.
We identified clear client needs for the project including speed of response, robustness of advice, early identification of risk, and senior experienced personnel were engaged on the project throughout.
This project underlines our strong major projects capability. We were able to show team continuity, experience, and local market knowledge to secure this commission.
