Johnston Central Library & Council Headquarters Cavan

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The Johnstown Central Library and Farnham Centre is a three storey building which accommodates Cavan County Library Headquarters, county archive, arts office, cultural events space, genealogy department, tourist office and council administration offices.

The construction process required solutions using modern construction innovations to reduce the demand on high energy service installations in low energy technology, such as the use of geothermal heat pumps and low energy lighting. The building design required the use of a large variety of finishes, both external and internal, with high emphasis on the environmental properties. This was achieved on the external elevations by use of lime mortars, lime render and ecocem cement. Their structural properties allowed long brick elevations, large lime render walls, fair face concrete feature beams, window surrounds and parapets, and a featured zinc panel.

The internal finishes consisted of lime render walls, polished concrete floors, feature fair face concrete central stairs, board marked concrete walls, bronze panels and palette of modern materials to provide a sustainable building to cater for the needs of staff and public users.

The central atrium acts as a gathering space linking all functions within the three floor levels and allowing people on all the floors to experience the benefits of fresh air and natural light. This was assisted by the use of full height glazed screens from ground level to roof height.

The Building received the Inaugural Award, National Disability Authority’s Excellence through Accessibility.