St Bricin’s Park, built in the mid 1960’s, is a Senior Citizens housing complex which originally comprised 68 bedsit units in three two-storey blocks to a standardised design which is common across much of the city.

Dublin City Council’s 2014 refurbishment and amalgamation programme initiated the improvement of these units by seeking to increasing their size to meet current space standards and improve overall energy efficiency by upgrading of the building fabric to improve comfort and energy efficiency and to reduce costs for residents as well as reducing carbon emissions.

This approach also enables residents to stay in their communities in comfortable, healthy and affordable homes.

Kelly and Cogan Architects were appointed in 2016 to initiate the programme at St Bricins Park for Block 1.

The works consisted of combining adjacent pairs of bedsit units to form a one-bedroom apartment.

The alterations provide much improved space and standards and considerably improve the efficiency and extend the life of the flat block.

Improved thermal comfort was achieved by externally insulating the walls, insulating the floor and roof, and installing high performance external windows and doors, eliminating and minimising thermal bridges, and using mechanical ventilation with heat recovery systems in each apartment.