Armagh House is the oldest reinforced concrete framed building in Ireland still in use. Originally constructed in 1904, there are only four older reinforced concrete framed buildings in the whole of Europe that are still in use. Larsen Contracts were awarded the contract to concrete all concrete repairs to the all internal and external reinforced concrete elements of Armagh House in June 2017. Larsen Contracts firstly completed a hammer survey of all concrete elements to identify areas of repairs. The structural engineering consultants then finalised where structural repairs were required.
Traditional concrete repairs were undertaken from ground floor to roof level. Defective concrete was being removed using mechanical breakers. The exposed steel was cleaned via shot blasting, primed and the repair mortar reinstated. A combination of repair methods were used – hand placed repairs with the majority of the larger overhead beam repairs being completed using a flowable repair mortar. All works were completed within a 9-week period, working alongside other trades on site to ensure the contractors programme was not affected.