The New Gatelodge at St Columb’s Park, Derry/Londonderry.
At a recent event, Paul McAlister Architects were delighted to attend the official opening of the new Gate Lodge, situated at the newly configured entrance to St Columb’s Park in Derry/Londonderry. The new building comprises two open-plan offices for council support staff along with ancillary accommodation. The building is 94msq in size and its development is intended to support the staff and ethos of the adjacent Acorn farm development which will be completed in 2025. The unique aspect of this building is that the brief asked for a traditional building that would serve the dual purpose of providing much-needed office accommodation to St Columb’s Park, but would also be perceived as the suitable replacement for an original Gate Lodge which served St Columb's Park House until demolition in the 1960s.
The handover of Gate lodge with funders, Council representatives, builder, architect and the mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council Lilian Seenoi-Barr
The brief for the new building was twofold, provide a new gatelodge reflecting the historic context and history of the location and also provide a building whose sustainable credentials reflect the ethos of the Derry City Council Climate Adaptation Plan and commitment to create new buildings that reduce carbon emissions.
The Passive House (Passivhaus) Standard
The Passivhaus standard was identified as the most suitable standard for meeting the need to reduce the operational energy in new council buildings. This robust standard dramatically increases the energy efficiency of buildings and is regarded as the world’s premium standard in terms of quality control and in-use performance. The one aesthetic conflict between this standard and the traditional building form was the design of the front entrance doors. These were designed to be of traditional materials and detail which was never going to meet the Passivhaus standard. In response to this, the design team created an internal porch which allowed the thermal envelope to exclude the entrance lobby as part of the heated structure of the building. The building is heated with an air source heat pump and its Energy performance certificate achieved an A rating without any renewable forms of energy such as solar panels.
The building has a link via a rear gate to the Acorn farm site and its external planting is a reflection of the sustainable Biodiversity practices of the Acorn farm project. This unique building is an example of what can be achieved with sustainable design while still achieving the aesthetic appeal of a Neo-Classical Gatelodge allowing for an integration of style and cutting-edge modern technology. The building's operational energy efficiency meets all current and future climate change energy standards, it is a legacy building and demonstrates that sustainable design can take many forms without being compromised.