This project comprised four principal elements:

1. Refurbishment of Rathgoonan House, a listed Victorian country house;
2. Refurbishment of the existing locker rooms and clubhouse facilities, situated in a series of stone outbuildings;
3. Design and construction of a new structure to form a link between the existing buildings;
4. Construction of a new wastewater treatment works to serve the development.

The refurbishment of Rathgoonan House principally comprised the strengthening of the existing floor structures in order to safely accommodate imposed loadings appropriate to a restaurant, bar and meeting rooms, and the removal of any timbers damaged by wet/dry rot, without adverse effects to the ornate plasterwork of the existing ceilings.

The new structure comprises a reinforced concrete flat slab first floor on reinforced concrete columns all supported on balanced reinforced concrete footings. The structure above first floor is steel framed with a combination of lightweight masonry partitions under a curved, copper clad roof, formed using galvanised pressed metal purlins cleated to the outer curve of the roof and supported on facetted primary steel beams.

The original facilities relied upon a conventional septic tank and percolation area for wastewater treatment. This system was not operating satisfactorily therefore a new Bord na Mona Peat Filter Bed effluent treatment system and constructed soil polishing filter with a discharge to a nearby stream were provided under license as part of the civil works package. Completed 2004.

Architects : Michael Healy & Partners

Structural Design : Eddie O’Donovan

Civil Design : Philip O’Regan

When at PH McCarthy Consulting Engineers