Due to changes in legislation, Dublin has been facing an acute shortage of student accommodation in recent years. Projects like the Blackpitts Student Accommodation (for which Global Student Accommodation (GSA) appointed Reddy Architecture + Urbanism, BAM Building and SOPREMA) help meet this urgent need, providing no less than 296 student rooms on the Blackpitts site in the Liberties in Dublin 8.
Design and calculations: SOPREMA’s service
SOPREMA got on board in 2016 with the aim of installing the roof of the Blackpitts Student Accommodation but was heavily involved in the design right from the start. Our team worked closely with both BAM Building and Reddy Architecture + Urbanism, providing these partners with the necessary U-value calculations and wind uplift calculations, in contributing to the design of the building’s drainage layers and the detailing.
Green bitumen roofs for Blackpitts
Because the construction site was tight, the Blackpitts building required a robust roofing system to bear the construction traffic coming in to build the higher levels. The blocks of Blackpitts Student Accommodation range in scale from seven to four floors. SOPREMA installed both standard bitumen warm roofs and green bitumen roofs, helping to create a green site in Dublin’s south inner city – an effect that is obviously strengthened by the quadrangle courtyard lawn around which the U-shaped building is arranged. This architectural feat won the Student Accommodation of the Year Award at the 2019 Irish Building and Design Awards, and has been shortlisted for an award at the 2020 Irish Construction Excellence Awards.
Piece of a larger puzzle
SOPREMA worked on the Blackpitts Student Accommodation for half a year, but the project as a whole took almost twenty months to complete. It is part of a larger city block which SOPREMA was involved in as well, consisting of three student accommodations, an impressive hotel and the New Mill Student Accommodation.