In a milestone for our practice, Dublin City Council has appointed Civic as part of a design team to reimagine College Green in the heart of Dublin.

The announcement follows hot on the heels of us launching our Dublin studio last year, with our ambition being to support the Irish state’s decarbonisation strategy with our ethos of climate conscious and people-centric engineering, and our pipeline of activity keeps growing.

The transformative project will create a vibrant pedestrian-friendly space at the heart of the city, which prioritises universal accessibility, social inclusion, safety, sustainability, biodiversity and greening.

It will restore and enhance the history and heritage of the unique location, which extends from South Great George’s Street to Trinity College. Under the proposals, the area will become traffic-free, apart from timed deliveries and limited local access.

It will provide a world-class, multi-functional space, which complements some of Dublin’s most illustrious historical buildings, notably Trinity College and the Bank of Ireland, allowing more space for people to enjoy cultural and recreational events, celebrations and social activities.

Prioritising sustainability and greening in the development of the design, the project supports the City’s Climate Action Plan, and will provide safe cycle routes and support the local economy by enhancing footfall.

Following an international competition, we were appointed to the team headed up by lead designers Scott Tallon Walker Architects in partnership with OKRA, and including Roughan & O’Donovan; Avison Young, Doyle Kent, Howley Hays Cooney and Linesight.

Working alongside Roughan & O’Donovan, we are the consulting engineers with the team led by Stephen O’Malley, our CEO and co-founding director, and director Isla Jackson. We will be bringing our experience of working on projects such as Glasgow Avenues, Barking’s Gascoigne Estate, Climate Innovation District in Leeds and Altrincham public realm.

Stephen commented: “I am beyond delighted that Civic has been appointed to help redesign College Green in Dublin city centre. As a Dubliner and an engineer, it doesn’t get any better and it means a lot to me personally.

“College Green is a core piece of the DNA of being Irish, and a distinctive space that is unique to Dublin. It is a fantastic opportunity to showcase the city’s essence, firmly rooted in the place and of the people. It’s a complex project with a broad mix of skills, which will bring immense benefits with greater sustainability, biodiversity and social inclusion, and we can’t wait to work with the exceptional design team at its helm.”

Richard Shakespeare, Chief Executive of Dublin City Council, commented: “I am delighted to welcome Scott Tallon Walker and Okra, along with their multidisciplinary team, to this transformative project. To reimagine the city core is to see beyond what is and envision what could be. This team will work to develop a place-making design that will transform College Green into a vibrant and sustainable hub at the heart of the city.”

Our team has participated in a number of major projects across the state. This includes a series of nature-based projects across Cork and the award-winning launch of Ireland’s first raingarden pilot scheme in Cobh; leading on the design of three district centres for Rosemount, Bawnogue and Dodsboro; and authoring a best practice advice note for incorporating greening and nature-based sustainable drainage systems, which was published by Ireland’s National Transport Authority.