Structural Engineer in Dún Laoghaire for Period Houses, Basements and Extensions

Local knowledge

Ground, housing and council rules in Dún Laoghaire

Dún Laoghaire grew around its 19th-century harbour, and the streets between the seafront and Monkstown, Sandycove and Glasthule are lined with Georgian and Victorian houses, many of them three storeys over a basement. Those houses have solid brick walls in lime mortar, timber floors bearing into the masonry, back-to-back chimney breasts on the party walls, and basement retaining walls holding up the street. Structural work in them, whether opening up a spine wall, supporting a removed chimney breast or lowering a basement, has to work with that construction.

A large share of these houses are protected structures, and parts of the area, including Monkstown, are Architectural Conservation Areas. On a protected structure, works that would materially affect its character need planning permission, including many internal works. Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council's conservation officers review proposals, and An Coimisiún Pleanála has refused schemes on protected houses in Monkstown on appeal. Engineering that is minimal, reversible where possible and clearly explained makes those applications easier.

Further inland, Glenageary, Kill o' the Grange and Sallynoggin are mostly 20th-century semis and terraces, where the work is rear extensions, knock-throughs and attic conversions. Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown was also added to the pyrite remediation scheme after pyrite was found in homes in the county. The Blackrock office is minutes away, so site visits here are the easiest in the service area.