The Radisson Blu Hotel in Dublin 8 forms part of an overall development project which created an entirely new block in the city, and is located beside the historic walls of Dublin Castle. The first phase of the overall development comprised 4,500m2 of office space, the second phase 10,000m2 of residential space and the third phase 20,000m2 of office space and the Radisson Hotel itself. The next phase will include 32,000m2 of residential, retail and office space, and an extension to the hotel, including a leisure centre.  The hotel itself consists of 150 high quality guest rooms including business class, executive suites, one bedroom suites and a presidential suite.  A double basement below the hotel provides the parking requirements for the hotel.

PUNCH provided Civil and Structural engineering services on this hotel development.  The structure is formed with in-situ reinforced concrete and load bearing walls. Bathroom pods were used for quality control and speed of construction. The external skin was constructed using specialised curtain walling system to maximise views of the surrounding historical buildings of Dublin Castle, St. Patrick’s Cathedral and Christchurch Cathedral.  Due to the close proximity to the site boundaries, the excavation of the basement was done using in-situ piles, socketed into rock, and propped temporarily from within the site during construction works.

The development is located beside Dublin Castle, and the site of a church called St Michael Le Pole, which dated from pre-Norman times up to the 19th century. The graveyard of the church was located outside the extent of the new basement. However, in actuality, the older medieval burials extended beyond the boundary of the graveyard.  As a result, the remains of over 300 bodies were excavated, which had been buried between 7^th and 13^th Century AD, and in an area of only 12m x 17m. The archaeology of the site had to be carefully recorded before the new basement was built.