The Clayton Hotel (www.claytonhotellimerick.com) in Limerick is a landmark high rise structure standing 53m tall on the waterfront marking the approaches to Limerick from the West in dramatic style.  The 16 storey building was completed in 2002 and at 53m tall; it is among the half dozen tallest buildings in Ireland.

The distinctive oval floor plates are formed using 250mm thick case in-situ concrete flat slabs.  Two reinforced concrete shear cores extend full height.  Both cores were slip formed using coni-bar inserts to allow the tying in of the floor slab pours following behind.  Typically the contractor achieved 2.5 week cycles per level with two pours per floor.

The building is dramatically positioned, straddling the 19th century quay wall.  The 1.2m thick ground floor podium slab which incorporates integral pile caps sits some 4.0m over low tide cantilevering 4.5m over the outermost pile line.  As the main shear core is positioned over the water all shear and bending loads from the core are transmitted via the podium slab to piles including raking, tension piles and rock anchors.  The piles are 900mm augured reinforced cast in-situ piles with a steel jacket on the piles in the river.  Construction of the podium piles and slab required the construction of a temporary hardcore working plat form in the River Shannon.

The swimming pool, located towards the river elevation, affords dramatic views of the estuary to the west.  The final structure is elegantly positioned over the water, announcing the approach to Limerick in a fitting modern and dramatic way.