Sloan’s House, Loughgall

A new facility including lecture theatre, seminar room, museum / exhibition space, meeting rooms, offices, stores and toilets was designed to establish a heritage centre in Loughgall, Co Armagh.

An existing 2-storey stone cottage of historical significance (Battle of The Diamond) was refurbished with new structural interventions, windows, etc, while retaining the original shell and historical features. Original stone walls were fragile and founded at shallow depth with no footings. Our design considered the sequence of construction to prevent undermining and included sequences of temporary propping and local underpinning of foundations. The original timber roof structure was protected and enhanced with minimal interventions using structural steel and new timber elements. The first floor structure was upgraded to comply with current loading standards. The façade to the main street was protected so that its appearance was as it would have been originally.

Extensions were designed for integration at the rear of the property with new-build sections of load-bearing masonry and structural steel being constructed on traditional pad and strip foundations on trench-fill concrete. The floors are in the extensions are of pre-cast concrete.

A steep slope at the back of the site added complexity, not least in relation to a necessary diversion of foul drainage on-site.

Construction was tightly adjacent to the boundary and access for construction on that face was via a negotiated temporary entrance through neighbouring land. Access for plant was through an existing narrow access between two cottages. Craning was necessary for the delivery of most materials and was sited on the side of the main road through Loughall, with materials slung over the cottage to the rear.

(Photographs courtesy of Lowry Construction, Graham Curry & GOLI)

Click to expand the photos below