The Central Plaza is a 22,000m² development situated on Dame Street, Dublin 2. The development includes the extension and refurbishment of the old 8-storey Central Bank tower as well as adjoining properties 6, 8 and 9 College Green and the Annex building. The redeveloped space includes 7 Floors of Grade A Office, Retail Units, and Food and Beverage Units and Rooftop Hospitality Unit.

The building design included a significant upgrade to the building fabric to ensure passive design elements including U-Values and Building Air Tightness exceeded Part L criteria in addition to a full refit of the M&E plant and equipment in the building to ensure plant efficiencies and performance were optimised. These measures are in place to ensure the building can achieve LEED Gold Certification in addition to an ‘A’ Rated Building Energy Rating (BER). The Building Management System (BMS) deployed will allow plant and equipment performance to be maximised with the ability to monitor and target energy saving measures during building operations.

Our approach to the Central Plaza’s Sustainable Design was to use innovative and sustainable technologies that would assist in achieving the buildings energy-efficiency goals. This included:

• Implementation of High Efficiency Thermal Plant and Modulating Chillers
• Improvement of buildings Fenestration U-Values
• Lighting and Daylight Control Systems
• Metering of Electrical Circuits
• Achieved an Energy Consumption Target that exceeds TM 46: Energy Benchmarks by 20% or ASHRAE Standard 90.1 by 20%

This project won two awards for the Building & Architect of the Year Awards 2023, for both Building of the Year – Large Office Development Award, and the Building Refurbishment for a Single Building or Development.