The Cliffs of Moher visitor centre in Co. Clare developed a new Coach Park Reception Building in 2018.
The construction of the building required a number of concrete mix designs which were both functional and visually appealing.
Architectural grade concrete was specified throughout the interior and exterior of the building including floors, walls and ceilings. The designers for this project specified a fair faced concrete finish to negate the requirement for any painting, cladding or finishing materials to be applied to the surface. A variety of finishes were required including polished concrete and exposed aggregate, according to the location within the building.
Roadstone designed and manufactured an architectural grade concrete suitable for use as a finished product, whilst also ensuring consistency of finish could be achieved.
In order to do so the proportions of all materials were carefully processed and mixed to ensure designed ratios were achieved
All constituent materials were closely monitored to guarantee consistency throughout the project resulting in a consistent concrete colour and finish.
This project demonstrates the architectural attributes that can be achieved through the detailing, design and use of concrete finishes. The exposed aggregate look achieved from the polishing of internal concrete floors complimented the high standard of the fair faced concrete walls and ceilings both inside and out The Cliffs of Moher coach park received the top award in the ‘Building Category’ for the Irish Concrete Society 2019 awards.
The jury said “ Benefiting from the inherent strength, robustness and resilience of concrete, its comprehensive use seems particularly appropriate here. Carefully detailed fair-faced concrete is used extensively in the floors, walls and ceilings both internally and externally, treated with various finishes from exposed aggregate to highly polished, according to its location”
Early communication and collaboration with the main contractor and designers was key to the successful outcome of this project
The Research and Development work that was carried out by Roadstone’s technical team also greatly supported the successful outcomes that were achieved for this project
The management and control of all constituent materials proved to be critical for this project to ensure that the finish and colour of concrete remained consistent.
Well planned logistics and co-ordination with the main contractor proved to be very important to ensure that the required concrete quality and consistency was achieved.