The Brief

CK Architecture was contacted by the owner of a site with planning permission for a 3-storey dwelling in Loughlinstown, Co. Dublin. The site, with a total area of approximately 245 square metres, was located to the side of an existing house, on the boundary with a public park. A flood risk assessment had revealed that the site was at risk of flooding during stormy weather. A flood relief solution was proposed in order to evacuate rain water away from the proposed dwelling. The property owner was also a construction manager and was willing to build the new dwelling. CK Architecture was appointed to develop the project technical design. The owner hesitated to use a timber frame structure for the project. After diverse contacts with timber frame contractors, it was decided to progress the design with a traditional double leaf cavity wall construction.

The Project

The proposed 3-bedrooms property had a total gross floor area of approximately 117 square metres on 3 storey. The rear garden is orientated North-West. The design included for double-leaf masonry walls with full-fill insulation. Bricks are present on some areas of the front, side and rear facades, along with blockwork finished with a painted concrete render. The roof dormers are formed with a cladded and ventilated timber frame. An air to water heat pump was specified with under-floor heating on the ground floor and low temperature radiators are providing heat on the upper floors. Background ventilation is present with trickle vent openings in the window frames. A protected stairway was specified with 30 minutes fire rated doors. A fire alarm and detection system is certified for compliance with IS:3218/2013. The dwelling is not connected to a gas main. Permeable paving is forming the driveway to front.

The Construction

Construction started in May 2018 and the dwelling was fully completed in March 2020. The house was build by the client / developer. A civil / structural engineer was appointed due to ground issues. The site inspection revealed the presence of soft ground where the building foundations were to be laid. The area was apparently used as a soak-away prior to connection to a surface water main. This caused a very wet a soft ground area to form on site. The civil engineer instructed the team to dig the foundations to a depth of approximately 2 metres. The trenches were filled with a lean mix concrete prior to pouring of the reinforced foundations concrete. Construction took place when a public SUDs was created in the adjacent public park. The SUDs was directly receiving the existing houses storm water drain, that was attenuated in the adjacent public park. Except for small setting issues with the third floor stairs and except for the soft ground discovered at start of the works, the construction process was smooth, without major issue.