Preserving Old Dublin at Lidl Aungier Street

DBFL proudly provided the structural and civil engineering design services for this landmark project in the historic centre of Dublin city.

A major structural challenge for this project from the outset was to propose a structural scheme with enough flexibility to accommodate major changes to the structural load paths from prospective archaeological finds. During the enabling works phase, three major archaeological finds were uncovered including the remains of the two recorded monuments of the 11th century Church of Saint Peter and the theatre stage pit steps belonging to the Aungier Street Theatre which opened in 1733. The unforeseen and most significant of these is the Viking era stone structure dated AD1070 in the middle of the LIDL store footprint directly beneath columns supporting a 7 storey 300 bed student accommodation block above.

This presented a significant structural engineering challenge to relocate these columns and the supporting piled foundations so as not to disturb the sensitive thousand-year-old masonry remains.

In similar fashion uncovering of the medieval church beneath the store’s loading bay presented complex issues requiring bespoke technical solutions.

The public display of the masonry remains of these monuments has preserved a significant element of Dublin’s heritage which is a credit to the project team who worked together to leave this great legacy for the public to enjoy for generations to come.