9 April 2026

Waterman Moylan was announced as the winner in the ‘Innovation – Large Project’ category at the Association of Consulting Engineers of Ireland (ACEI) Awards for our ground-breaking design of Dublin’s major College Square scheme.

This award recognises the innovative engineering behind this exceptional project which has totally transformed this key site just 140 m south of the River Liffey and immediately north of Trinity College.

The mixed-use development unites two individual plots, College House and Apollo House, forming part of a regeneration programme led by Marlet Property Group. The existing 1970s-era 10-storey offices were demolished, and the Henry J Lyons-designed development now delivers high-end residential units, an entertainment venue in the double storey basement, and 540,000 sq ft of commercial floor space which achieved LEED Platinum Certification. Rising 82m above street level, College Square’s residential tower has now become Ireland’s tallest. This incorporates 58 high end apartments spread across the 11 upper storeys in the tower structure above the 11 storeys of commercial floors, which will benefit from 2,200 sq ft of internal communal amenity space, as well as external terrace areas.

Our team delivered all civil and structural engineering services from concept design to completion of construction and handover for College Square.

The site’s location posed several design challenges, with the River Liffey and LUAS light rail line and busy urban streets in close proximity or directly adjoining the site, whilst major buried services and utilities had to be diverted and decommissioned. To address these complexities, our innovative basement design was tailored to address these issues, seeing us uniquely select glass fibre anchor ties instead of conventional steel rods to restrain the top of the perimeter secant piled basement wall. This choice was made to minimise the need for temporary internal propping during basement excavation and to prevent complications during future excavations beneath surrounding roads, where the ties extend.

Integrating the residential tower above the office floorplate introduced a series of complex challenges which required the greatest innovation. To avoid vertical support columns from the residential tower extending into the commercial floorplates below, the team developed a series of steel cantilevered trusses supported from the shared core between the tower and the offices below to support the residential floors which cantilever up to nine metres without the need for vertical support, while providing essential stability. This solution ensures the integrity of the office floorplates, and the basement car park beneath remain uncompromised.

Celebrating our role in bringing the client’s vision for College Square to life, the ACEI award judges commented: “The project illustrates the ability of structural engineers to innovatively solve problems in a way that allowed their client to realise the vision and ambition of this new landmark in the city. The design team at Waterman Moylan overcame substantial structural challenges and constraints posed in supporting the tower and the floor plates and in accommodating a new diagonal pedestrian route through the site.”

Click here to learn more about this stunning development.