DCU Sports Grounds, St Patrick’s
Full Architectural Services, Dublin
2020
18,000 m2
The development comprises a major upgrade of the playing fields at St Patrick’s Campus to maximise playing potential and use enhance student experience in a location where available space is at a premium. The new facilities include a full size artificial grass GAA pitch as well as a natural grass training space with floodlighting and landscaping works.
This project forms part of an ambitious long-term capital development plan to transform Dublin City University across its multiple sites providing a platform to realise its ambitions in research, teaching and learning, student experience, sport and enterprise engagement. St Patrick’s Campus had already been greatly enhanced with the provision of a new library, teaching space, recreation and sporting facilities.
Introducing floodlighting in to a built up residential area was very challenging due to the need to attain design lighting levels on the playing surface with minimal margins around the pitches to ameliorate light spill to adjacent sites. The issue was overcome by using the latest LED technology with detailed modelling and assessment of lighting performance to demonstrate that the planning constraint of no increased levels of lighting to surrounding properties could be achieved.
