M1 Business Park, Courtlough

The new production, distribution centre and headquarters for Fyffes Ireland is the first building in the M1 Business Park in Courtlough. The building sits naturally within the existing topography of the site, set back from the R132 in a landscape that promotes biodiversity and provides staff amenity. A visually distinct two-storey office building mitigates the scale of the warehouse behind. The warehouse is designed to facilitate future expansion to the North with minimum disruption to operations.


Client
Balmoral International Land Holdings Plc

Location
Dublin, Ireland

Status
Technical Design

Area
9500


Expertise

The design brief comprised two elements. A production facility with the capability for future expansion and a headquarters building designed to amalgamate staff into one location. The warehouse provides 8,000 sq.m of industrial space with the potential to extend to 9,500 sq.m and has generous 12m internal height to the underside of the haunches. The 1,500 sq.m office building is split over two levels. The ground floor incorporates the operations office together with extensive staff welfare amenities including changing and catering facilities. On the first floor there is an executive boardroom with full height glazing, executive offices and a canteen incorporating a terrace overlooking the landscaped parkland. The buildings are differentiated through a vertical expression of façade panels on the warehouse and a horizontal expression on the office building. The mass of the warehouse is broken down through use of ribbed panels with varying profiles which will create a changing pattern of light and shade across the elevation. A sinuous canopy expresses the working elevation of the façade and provides protection to the docking bays below.