Kinsale Library is the outright winner of Wood Awards Ireland 2024 which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year.

The spectacular restoration project by Cork County Council Architects (CCCA) was praised by Ciaran O’Connor, chair of the judging panel for its sensitive conservation and its innovative use of oak and other wood throughout.

The project represents an ambitious architectural response to urban renewal that sets an example for local authorities throughout Ireland.

The project involved “the removal of the existing unoriginal roof and the introduction of a new free hanging, glulaminated timber” structure that sub¬divides the space over three split levels in a building referred to as the ‘Old Mill’ although its medieval role was a grain store rather than a mill.

Cross-laminated timber

In transforming the building, wood was used extensively including cross-laminated timber (CLT) floor panels, glulaminated timber beams and rafters.

The CCCA design statement emphasises the flexibility of wood in the restoration and its climate benefits. The architects state

“The new structure is primarily hung from an existing reinforced concrete ring beam reducing the requirements for excavations – in a Zone of Archaeological Potential – and the requirements for under-pinning [while] mass timber is a CO2 reservoir and a zero-carbon alternative to concrete or steel.”

The large building category award went to the Department of the Environment Climate and Communications Headquarters by OPW Architects. “An exemplar of deep retrofit refurbishment in a six-storey 1970s office development, this scheme provides a flagship new Government head¬quarters for the Department,” said Dan Costelloe, senior architect, OPW.

Bucholz + McEvoy won the international award for the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority HQ in collaboration with Zas Architects. This magnificent four-storey building is higher than B+M would be allowed in Ireland.

Offsite fabrication

Teach Sprúis, by EDEN Architecture, highlighted Norway spruce and European larch in a two-and-a-half-storey terrace house located on a very tight site in central Dublin.

It won the small building category and was praised by the jury for its precision use of cross-laminated timber (CLT) offsite fabrication which minimised waste and ensured quick and safe construction.

Van Dijk Architects along with Glenfort Timber Engineering won the innovative category for Junction 20. Located just off the N1 near the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic, Junction 20 is an impressively designed fuel station using mainly CLT Douglas fir.

Glenfort plans to construct a number of other similar projects which will transform Irish fuel station design.

Another project that caught the eye was Rathmines Studio a creative and functional extension, situated at the foot of the garden, of a late-Georgian terraced house.

Homegrown Sitka spruce sawn by Glennon Brothers Timber, Fermoy, Co Cork and Douglas fir sawn by Sheehan Sawmills, Ballyporeen, Co Tipperary, was the main timber species used throughout.

The furniture award went to Klimmek Furniture featuring the BÄR system. This is a modular shelving system that has the potential to be developed commercially. The project was a collaboration between Knut Klimmek of Klimmek Furniture and Brian Tyrrell of Bear Creation.

Wood Awards Ireland is supported by Forest Industries Ireland, The Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland, and Enterprise Ireland and receives funding from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

Although wood can be used with other materials, it needs to be the inherent material in projects and must be sourced in sustainable managed forests and conform to the EU Timber Regulation.