Houtbundel Fabriek, Carnew

This light industrial building is being used for the manufacture of visual aids for computer hardware. Located in Carnew, Co. Wicklow, the design brief was always going to align with our practice’s permanent design agenda of sustainability. From a construction stand-point, the use of round-wood timber trusses to span the assembly and storage spaces had been the major challenge but the building’s defining feature.

The building is serviced by a woodchip boiler to provide space heating and hot water. At a later stage, a bio-fuel generator will be incorporated to deal with the electrical demand of the manufacturing process.

It is understood that this is the first time that such a construction technique has been utilised in Ireland and it is hoped that it will become a prototype for green factory design.

Much research was carried out prior to construction. You can read about that here in Mike Haslam’s article for The RIAI Journal - “An Atypical Prototype” which was published in issue 321 (January/ February 2022)

Completed: 2008