{"id":56739,"date":"2025-09-11T06:48:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T06:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/56739\/"},"modified":"2025-09-11T06:48:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T06:48:09","slug":"restoration-of-tearooms-in-blackrock-co-dublin-cost-e1-1m-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/56739\/","title":{"rendered":"Restoration of tearooms in Blackrock, Co Dublin cost \u20ac1.1m \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The cost of restoring a Victorian kiosk at the main entrance to Blackrock Park in Dublin<\/a> has been put at \u20ac1.1 million by D\u00fan Laoghaire Rathdown Council<\/a>, which said the building will open as a coffee shop in the coming months.<\/p>\n

The original 2024 tender submitted by the contractor that carried out the work, Bracegrade, was for \u20ac690,000, excluding VAT, but a contingency of \u20ac150,000 was approved at the same time by the council bringing the overall project cost to some \u20ac840,000.<\/p>\n

In response to a Freedom of Information request, it said an additional \u20ac200,000 was sought and approved in January of this year to fund the demolition of an existing but disused public toilet block and construction of a new facility close to the restored tea rooms. Some additional landscaping was also to be carried out.<\/p>\n

In the end, it said, \u20ac1.1 million has been spent to date on the project, which got under way in July of last year and is said to have been completed last month. <\/p>\n

A tender process was conducted to find a tenant for the tea rooms, which are a short walk from Blackrock village and two substantial shopping centres, and a contract has been provisionally agreed with operator of the Mister Magpie outlets in Ballsbridge and Leeson St. <\/p>\n

The contracts are currently being completed and the council said the facility will open in the coming months. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are working closely with the operator to ensure the Tearooms open to the public as soon as possible,\u201d the council said in a statement. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018I can\u2019t believe we\u2019re living here\u2019: Historic Wexford cottage that was at risk of falling into decline is restoredOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The small building, which was a protected structure, was originally built in the 1890s when it operated as a cake and sweet shop. <\/p>\n

The wider park had been established about 20 years earlier. The kiosk has views over much of it and Dublin Bay. The intention, it is stated, was to \u201cfaithfully restore\u201d the building.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe building originally operated as a cake and sweet shop. Photograph: Alan Betson\/The Irish Times<\/p>\n

\"Blackrock-basedBlackrock-based councillor Martha Fanning said the structure was a ‘historic feature’ of the park. Photograph: Alan Betson\/The Irish Times<\/p>\n

\"NewlyNewly refurbished toilets near the tea rooms in Blackrock Park. Photograph: Alan Betson\/The Irish Times<\/p>\n

Internal council documents suggest the tender process was conducted on the cascade basis, under which some potential bidders can be excluded if they are now considered suitable for some of the specialised work involved.<\/p>\n

The council said the process was \u201cthorough and competitive\u201d and the work carried out included considerable replacement of the building\u2019s fabric, the installation of new windows and landscaping of the surrounding area. <\/p>\n

A number of grants were received to support the funding of the project including from the Department of Housing, local Government and Heritage\u2019s Historic Structures Fund. <\/p>\n

Blackrock-based councillor Martha Fanning said that \u201chaving been vacant for decades, it\u2019s wonderful to see the refurbishment being completed\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cRestoration works are expensive but the kiosk is a key historic feature of the park which shouldn\u2019t have been allowed get into such a poor state of disrepair.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The cost of restoring a Victorian kiosk at the main entrance to Blackrock Park in Dublin has been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56740,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[41034,79,52,7927,18,19,17],"class_list":{"0":"post-56739","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-blackrock-co-dublin","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-dublin","11":"tag-dun-laoghaire-rathdown-county-council","12":"tag-eire","13":"tag-ie","14":"tag-ireland"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56739\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}