Outstanding Aesthetics

AG had a major input to the recently constructed €35million Monaghan Education Campus, Ireland.

AG’s Decoblock®, Alphacrete Acoustic Block® and Plaza Paving were specified for this major project.

In late 2011 main contractor John Sisk & Son commenced work by demolishing some former army buildings on the Armagh Road site at Knockaconny to facilitate the housing of the new Monaghan Education Campus.

Planning permission was given for a 2,500m2 Primary School, 4,000m2 Post Primary and 7,000m2 Further Education school, along with a sports hall and theatre. The objective of the development was to maximise shared facilities.

From a list containing several suppliers John Sisk & Son recommended to the architect, Oppermann Associates, that AG’s Decoblock®, Alphacrete Acoustic Block® and Plaza paving be selected for use.

In the current educational building programme the Decoblock® range comes highly recommended as a favoured fair-faced block. Along with its superior performance in meeting airtight requirements, Decoblock® has an excellent smooth face finish which is suitable for painting or is equally pleasing when left exposed to its natural colour. As well as its outstanding aesthetic appeal, the AG Alphacrete Acoustic Block® was recommended by the contractor as the preferred choice of block to meet the demanding acoustic requirements for the project.

In recent years the question of sound absorption has been brought much more to the fore in educational buildings and the excellent acoustic design characteristics of the AG Alphacrete Acoustic Block® quite simply puts it in a class of its own. While outstanding technical performance of the block may have been the key consideration in its specification, its smooth closed facial finish and range of pre-finished colours was an added bonus in terms of providing the proverbial ‘best of both worlds’ solution in terms of visual appeal and performance.

Plaza Paving was selected for 5,000m2 of hard landscaping around the campus. Plaza has been specially developed to provide a natural aggregate, textured finish and is manufactured using specially selected granite aggregates. It was chosen because it offers a high quality appearance that not only complements its surroundings but also provides a surface that will withstand the test of time.

Another key factor in being selected for this ambitious education scheme was AG’s ability to service the project in-line with build-time. Given the size and scale of the project, and the demanding schedules which had to be met, it was imperative that sufficient stocks were available at all times to ensure the build-time was never delayed.

The contract has delivered an education campus for the benefit of all in the Monaghan area.