Kilsaran Showroom & Display Gardens

Designed by Mitchell + Associates and officially opened in September 2009, our own showroom has won many accolades.

The brief was to create a building which was striking and functional, but in line with Kilsaran’s planning and environmental policies the building was not to be imposing or out of place with its surroundings.  The site overlooks the main N3 route and it was important that the new building was sensitive to its surroundings.

As many of the external elements were glazed, the structural elements were going to be large and pronounced within the façade of the building, it was decided to take advantage of this by exposing them as a feature of the overall design. The architect wanted a light and smooth finish concrete for the large rectangular columns to the front of the building. Given Kilsaran’s expertise in terms of specialised, architectural and Self-Compacting Concretes (SCC), the company was at an advantage in terms of making the architect’s vision a reality. 

Trials were carried out with various mixes and a mix combining the smooth and attractive cast look of SCC with the light off-white colour of Ground Granulated Blastfurnace Slag (GGBS). A combination of GGBS with CemII A-L cement, along with special microsilica additive added to the concrete to enhance the strength and colour and this also resulted in achieving a smooth blemish free finish to the concrete. Given its lower carbon footprint, the use of GGBS within the construction of the building lends itself again to the overall efficient and environmentally-friendly brief.