Google HQ Expansion - Boland's Quay

Colt provides effective smoke extract solutions for this ambitious new mixed-use urban regeneration development.

The development, which comprises one existing old mill building and three new-build towers, will provide approximately 36,851 sq. m. of office, residential, retail and cultural space. Google’s plan is to retain the office space for its own use and will appoint a letting agent to manage the letting of the remaining commercial premises (restaurants, etc.) and apartments.

The plans also include a new civic plaza looking onto the waterfront at Grand Canal Dock. When complete, Boland’s Quay will accommodate up to 2,500 workers.

Having worked with Colt numerous times and being familiar with our professionalism, fire consultants Maurice Johnson and Partners contacted Colt in 2018 to assist on this exciting development. As a result of the project’s high profile and the design challenges that may have caused issues for less experienced companies, they understood that Colt was their best choice. Involving us from the start, our designers were able to work with Maurice Johnson and Partners to incorporate effective smoke extract systems into the design in the most efficient way.

The requirement for Colt was to provide smoke extract solutions for each of the 3 new-build towers as well as the old mill building. We achieved this by designing and installing Coltshaft systems going up through the middle of the buildings and dampers on all the lobby levels to let the smoke out. In total, we installed 6x ColtShaft systems and 1x natural smoke extract system across the development. The basement levels on this project presented some challenges as the upper levels in these areas were two separate compartments, so we needed to find a way to make our system work with this constraint. To overcome this, we added transfer dampers into spine walls and stairwells to let air flow down the stairwell and into the basement.

In addition, working on this project during 2020 added a few complications in terms of project management as it was not possible to get onto the site as frequently as usual. However, our excellent project management skills and experience within the building industry allowed us to work around these issues and deliver our part of the project on time for the client.

The Dublin Fire Service put Colt’s systems through their paces with safety checks and tests, which we welcomed because we realise how important competency is when it comes to life safety systems - all the systems were found to be fit for purpose, installed correctly and in good working order.