€800,000 Pav plan revealed

The Dublin University Central Athletics Club (DUCAC) plans to begin work on a major redevelopment of the Pavilion Bar this summer. An application for planning permission was lodged late last year, and granted on February 1st 2008. Architects Arthur Gibney and Partners, of Harcourt Street, have drawn up the plans, which were approved by the College Site & Facilities Committee in November 2007.

The new Pav will be extended out on either side, such that the only outdoor seating remaining will be be at the front, to the immediate left and right of the front door. To the right of the existing building, as viewed from the front steps, will be new toilets, which should see the end of the queues that currently form for the facilities during busy periods. To the left will be a function room, accessible through sliding doors from the main indoor seating area, which will be available for sports clubs to rent out. Both new wings will have a glass and timber frame facing the front of the building, with panelling at the rear. In all, around 89 square metres of new floor area will be added.

In another sign of College’s commitment to universal access, a lift will be installed at the north-east corner of the building to allow wheelchair users to access the bar area. The existing concrete staircase at this point will be replaced by a more modern metal structure.

DUCAC have not been able to provide an estimate of the cost of the development as of yet. Trinity News understands from one source however that the project is expected to cost €800,000. The last major work to be carried out on the building in 1989/90 – when women’s changing rooms and other facilities were added to the ground floor – cost around £250,000. Part of the Pav’s €116,000 profit for the last financial year will be put towards the redevelopment. A further unspecified amount will be returned as usual to the main DUCAC budget to support its activities.

One matter of concern for students is that it looks likely that the Pav will be closed for part of next year, leaving Trinity with no bar on campus for that period. A DUCAC spokesperson was keen to stress that there was no desire to close the Pav on their part, since the profits made from the bar is important to its finances.

However, the Honorary Chairman of DUCAC, Dr. Trevor West, speaking at last week’s DUCAC AGM, indicated that since the work was likely to take around four months, barring overruns, and modularisation will bring undergraduates back to College in September next year, there was a possibility that the Pav will be closed when term begins. He also said that the project will be “pushed hard” between now and Christmas so as to finalise all the arrangements for work to begin in June. There has been as yet no indication as to whether a contractor has been engaged or when exactly construction will begin.