Ballincollig Town Centre & Barrack Square

Southgate Associates acted as conservation consultants to the multi-million euro redevelopment of Ballincollig town centre by the O’ Flynn Group. The project entailed the extension of Ballincollig Town Centre into a large site, previously occupied by a military barracks, which was bounded on the town side by a high stone wall. Southgate Associates was tasked with ensuring that the new build didn’t dominate the heritage setting and historic urban grain, and to deliver an atmospheric new addition to Ballincolig grounded in its atmospheric historic building stock. 

The old army barracks was surrounded by a stone wall which had to be penetrated in order to draw the barracks site into the town. Southgate Associates designed the interventions, leaving parts of the structure where possible and leaving the scar of the wall on the footpath where not – thereby ensuring the legibility of the original scheme. 

Working in association with three teams of architects, Southgate Associates advised on the adaptation of multiple buildings to new uses. Of particular note, Southgate Associates advised on design interventions to the key army buildings of Barrack Square, which ensured that the modern additions were in sympathy with the historic fabric. This project represents an excellent example of a highly successful adaptive reuse project, where Barrack Square stands as the heart of a new vibrant business quarter on the side of Ballincollig town centre, but simultaneously represents the conservation of a highly important aspect of the local history of the community of Ballincollig.