Category: Fit Out or Refurbishment €5m to 30m
Project: Brown Thomas Dundrum
Contractor: T&I Fitouts Ltd
Client: Brown Thomas
Engineer: Lawler Consulting
Architect: Oppermann Associates
Utilising its reputation for quality and luxury from its Grafton Street location Brown Thomas commissioned this project to bring high street retail to the modern generation.
This new outlet, completed in February 2022, was designed by Oppermann Associates architects and covers two floors with a total area of 5,796 square metres.
Designed to include lifestyle, beauty, clothing, health, treatments and accessories, the work on this one-stop-shop was completed on a tight 24-week programme, meeting the client’s media-announced opening date and overcoming a myriad of different challenges at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The store currently exceeds expectations on customer footfall and financial return, confirming that the concept and brief have been delivered and exceeded.
With their extensive experience in the Fitout and Commercial Construction Sectors T&I Fitouts of Straffan, consistently deliver superior quality to valued clients.
For the Brown Thomas Dundrum fit-out the key elements include:
- 60,000 Sq/ft Department store fit out
- 24 week programme
- Blue form of contract
- Full CAT B fit out – this fully operational workplace has been designed to the client’s unique specifications to make it their own.
- Two floor fit out from shell & core
- Full Monitoring & Evaluation services installation
- Full back of house facilities installation
- New shop front installation
- Extensive bespoke joinery throughout
As experts in the field of sustainability, Lawler Consulting provided full MEP (mechanical, electrical, and plumbing) design and consulting services on the project as well as devising a comprehensive Sustainability Strategy for the department store.
This strategy is to ensure that Brown Thomas continues to meet and expand on its admirable sustainability targets and set an extremely positive example for the rest of the retail market.
The client’s vision for the store was to “create a contemporary space – mixing physical and digital – designed to enhance the shopping experience for its customers.”
To bring this to life, Lawlor Consulting seamlessly incorporated ‘hidden services’ i.e. mechanical, electrical, and plumbing services, into the building’s design, hidden from view, while performing to the highest level of functionality and sustainability.
To ensure a sustainable retrofit, in line with Brown Thomas’ extensive Corporate Social commitments the following were completed:
- Efficient allocation of budget, creating value solutions that enable Brown Thomas to achieve its net-zero goals.
- Condition reports on the existing plants with the view to life extension and optimisation.
- Aesthetic, business, and sustainability requirements were not only met, but exceeded.
For Brown Thomas, it has been crucial that the new store continues to contribute positively to the environmental branch of its Corporate Social Responsibility strategy. While it was a complex retrofit to complete, taking this route catered to the long-term strategy of Brown Thomas and it has paid dividends in terms of environmental savings and long-term sustainability.
Brown Thomas is in the process of BREEAM In Use certification. This assessment and certification scheme is designed to help Building Managers reduce and improve the environmental performance of existing non-domestic buildings. The scheme is structured to drive sustainability improvements in existing buildings. In line with Brown Thomas’s CSR strategy and its commitment to building a sustainable brand for the future, the certification is investor-driven and policy-driven.
Further support by Lawlor Consulting is helping Brown Thomas to target Fitwel, the building certification programme developed by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the General Services Administration (GSA) that sets standards for design features and operational strategies that support the health of building occupants.
Embodied Carbon Savings resulted from the approach taken to the fit-out with plant which had been in use by the former tenant at the site, including chillers, boiler plants, ventilation ductworks, transformers, and generators, being integrated into the new Building Management System installed.
Donegal based shop fitters Ashley Martin completed the extensive display fit out.
