Making a stand

The Hogan Stand redevelopments are continuing apace. J.V. Tierney & Co. has played a major part in the Croke Park project since 1993.

The Hogan Stand is the latest beneficiary (victim?) of the ongoing redevelopments at Croke Park which, when complete, will give the stadium a capacity of 79,000, a figure as dizzying as the upper reaches of the New Stand. The famous old Hogan, which had witnessed many great moments - tearful as well as joyous - in its 44-year life, was demolished last October after the All-Ireland ladies football final in the latest phase of the project.

Never again will its dank, dusty old girders form the backdrop of an All-Ireland final souvenir photograph, the moment of joy captured, almost intrusively, as the winning captain hoists Sam or Liam aloft to the cheering of delirious masses. The breezy, antiquated structure - widely held to be the coldest place in Ireland, especially on a warm day - will behold no more great days of hazy sunshine, will bestow no more fond memories upon the minds of GAA patrons.

A lifesaving operation needed to be performed, to prevent what had become an institution from assuming the same pitiful, wondrous aura as other glorious, dilapidated ruins. The Hogan Stand, stood like a dark monolith on Dublin’s rapidly changing skyline, had become as obsolete as Rule 21 and will be replaced by a new superstructure as part of the GAA’s ambitious, commendable, epic redevelopments.

J.V. Tierney & Co. has been the mechanical and electrical consulting engineering company behind the Croke Park project since 1993. Liam Connolly, has led the the company’s end of affairs from the outset. He has been assisted by Noel Tobin. The old Cusack Stand became the first part of the ground to be subjected to the redevelopments, and that structure has been praised from several quarters since its completion in the mid-nineties.

When the entire project is finished, the home of the GAA will take its place among the finest stadia in Europe, with a capacity nearing that of Wembley and the Stadio Olimpico in Rome. For an indigenous, insular sporting organisation, it will represent an outstanding achievement.

Expectations are that the new Hogan Stand will be completed within the next two years, but it is planned that a part of the lower deck will be ready for this summer’s championship matches.

“The way it works, the builders operate around the GAA schedule, and if there is part of the stand ready it will be used on match-days,” explains Liam. “That’s the way it was when the Cusack Stand and Canal End were under construction, and it worked out very well, with a little extra seating space available for each match. We are hoping that there will be a certain amount of Hogan Stand seating open for the first round of the Leinster championship, but the construction companies are having terrible problems getting staff at the moment, so it’s fairly difficult to work out a definitive timeframe for the completion of the stand.”

Liam goes on to explain that the J.V. Tierney & Co. team are currently finalising design plans for the final phase of the Hogan Stand, before moving onto the last section of the redevopment: Hill 16.
That terrace has been the home of GAA fanaticism for a generation, bringing to gaelic games the colour that first adorned global sport in the seventies. It will always be associated with a wave of Dublin blue. Lobbyists have continually sought assurances that Hill 16 will remain standing-only, but they will have to wait and see.

As well as being mechanical and electrical consultant company on the Croke Park redevelopment, J.V. Tierney & Co. is responsible for many of the necessary extras in the stadium. Everything from heating installation, air conditioning/ventilation, plumbing, sprinkler installation, the public address system and closed circuit cameras comes under the umbrella of the Harold’s Cross-based company’s interests in Croke Park. As Liam says, the company team “plays the role of designers, specifiers, supervisers and certifiers” in the new Croke Park.

Former Managing Director Connolly, originally from Meath Hill near the Meath/Monaghan border, continues: “We are the appointed electrical and mechanical consultants for the Croke Park project; as well as all the design work, we are responsible for overseeing the electrical and mechanical installations in Croke Park.” It all means that J.V. Tierney & Co. has an extensive range of responsibilities in the project.

J.V. Tierney & Co. employs a staff of 50, including engineers, designers and draughtsman. The company is variously contracted to both the State and private parties in the fields of Design and Project Management in several sectors, including industrial, educational, health care, commercial and sports & leisure.

The Croke Park job is the only stadium redevelopment project on the company’s books, although J.V. Tierney & Co. has carried out work on sports and recreational facilities throughout Ireland, in such third level institutions as St Patrick’s College, Maynooth and Dundalk, Sligo and Waterford ITs, as well as for Drimnagh GAA club in Dublin. The entertainment industry has also benefited from the company’s expertise, with J.V. Tierney gaining contracts for the RDS and Point exhibition centres in the past.

Hotel leisure facilities also feature high on the list of previous company projects, with the Nuremore in Monaghan and the Links in Portmarnock, Co Dublin just a couple of the many high-profile hotels the length and breadth of Ireland to have been aided by the thorough competence of J.V. Tierney & Co.

With such experience, J.V. Tierney & Co. is certain to do a most professional job in Croke Park and, as everyone who has had the pleasure of sitting in the New Stand will attest, all GAA patrons can look forward to enjoying the facilities of a hi-tech, state-of-the-art stadium within the next few years.