Tea room conversion project in Dublin park goes overbudget by nearly 25 per cent

Ken Foxe

A project to turn an old work depot into tea rooms at a park in one of the country’s wealthiest suburbs ended up costing almost 25 per cent more than budgeted.

Dublin City Council said the final bill for the conversion work at Palmerston Park, located next to some of the most expensive houses in the city, was almost €683,000.

The original contract amount for the project in Dartry was €556,000, but unforeseen extra costs arose after work began.

Dublin City Council said two existing floor slabs had to be broken out while the foundations for existing external walls were not strong enough and needed underpinning.

The local authority said there were other problems with the walls and that work on additional kerbs, drainage and site clearance also took place.

They said some savings were made by reducing the scale of a gravel area beside the new tearooms and a reduction in the number of parasols provided.

An information note said: “Other design changes to items like lighting fittings, metalwork (tapping rails), security (protection cages) and external entrance mats have also been implemented.

“Finally, significant additional soft landscaping works have been added to the works.”

The council said that the conversion of the depot at the historic park included a dining area, a serving area, storerooms, toilets, and other facilities.

They said that “unforeseen existing building structural issues” had added around €30,000 to the bill and only became evident when work began.

A note said: “These included the very unusual situation where the walls were built on top of the floor slab, which then had to be cut back, the walls underpinned and additional supports to the foundations.”

It said the work also meant the initial plan to insulate the building would not work and that a more expensive option was chosen instead.

“The upside to this was that the building achieved an impressive A3 BER rating from B1 BER rating preconstruction … [what this] means is lower fuel costs and significantly less CO2 emissions,” the council said.

They said landscape works had accounted for an extra €80,000 in costs with only a basic level provided for in the original pricing.

Their information note said: “The increase in cost included for a full planting scheme plus twelve months maintenance in and around the tearooms, drainage, Wicklow granite kerbing and associated works.

“[This] was justified given the historic nature of the park and the need to use quality materials.”

The council said miscellaneous extra costs accounted for €17,000 while there were delay claim accounts of around €6,000.

Asked about the project, Dublin City Council said they had nothing further to add.