Minister 'Boxer' Moran launches the Traditional Building Skills training day at the Magazine Fort, Monday 21st September 2026
02.10.2026
Posted by IGS

Thumbs up for Traditional Building Skills: Left to Right: Claire Callaghan, NWRA; Catherine Cullimore, SRA; Shane Nolan, Nolans Conservation; Emmeline Henderson, IGS; Kevin Moran, OPW Minister; Nicola Matthews, NBHS; and Jacqueline Hall, IGS Chairperson at the launch of the skills training day at the Magazine Fort, 21st September 2026.
TRADITIONAL BUILDING SKILLS TRAINING TAKES CENTRE STAGE AT THE MAGAZINE FORT, PHOENIX PARK, MONDAY 21ST SEPTEMBER 2026.
The Irish Georgian Society, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage's National Built Heritage Service (NBHS) and Office of Public Works (OPW), with support from the Southern Regional Assembly (SRA) and the Northern and Western Regional Assembly (NWRA), bring local authorities and THRIVE design teams together for a day of hands-on conservation training.
Titled ‘Head, Hands and Heart’, the programme was designed for multi-disciplinary teams delivering projects under THRIVE (Town Centre First Heritage Revival Scheme), which is co-funded by the Government of Ireland and the European Union through the ERDF Regional Programmes 2021–27. It combined expert talks with live demonstrations of the crafts used to conserve the fort itself: brick, stone and lime work, historic joinery and window repair, slating and ironwork.
The day was officially launched by Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran TD, Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works, following a welcome from Jacqueline Hall, Chairperson of the Irish Georgian Foundation, and Emmeline Henderson, IGS Conservation Manager and Assistant Director.
In her welcome address Emmeline situated the skills training day in the context of the Irish Georgian Society’s sustained commitment to promote the use of traditional materials and methods in the conservation of Ireland’s built heritage. The Society’s dedication to promoting traditional skills is primarily achieved through its key partnerships with Local Authority Architectural Conservation Officers and Heritage Officers throughout Ireland on the delivery of the annual Traditional Building Skills in Action Exhibitions. The Society has held over twenty traditional building skills in action exhibitions throughout the country where the audience is primarily historic house owners, however the Society was delighted to partner with the NBHS, the OPW, and the SRA and NWRA, to deliver a skills training day specifically for Local Authorities and their design teams undertaking the rehabilitation of heritage buildings in receipt of THRIVE funding.
An award-winning setting
The skills training day was further enhanced by the extraordinary venue of the historic Magazine Fort, and the Society wishes to thank both Margaret Gormely, OPW Chief Parks Superintendent and Paul McDonnell, OPW Phoenix Park Superintendent for accommodating the skills training day at the Magazine Fort. Built between 1734 and 1736 to the design of military engineer John Corneille, the Magazine Fort was commissioned by the Duke of Dorset, then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, to store and supply gunpowder and ammunition. Its square plan with four demi-bastions and dry moat is a classic example of 18th-century military architecture.
The OPW, which owns the fort, recently completed a two-year stabilisation and restoration project there, including new roofs, window repairs, lime rendering, re-capping and repointing of the outer walls, and restoration of the stone entrance archway, known as the Dorset Arch. The impressive works received the RIAI Conservation Award 2026.
Many of the traditional building skills practitioners who demonstrated at the skills training day in the Magazine Fort were also responsible for undertaking this award-winning work. The Society wishes to thank Bushypark Ironwork, Crannog Roofing, Nolans Conservation and Restoration and Timeless Sash Windows for their engaging traditional ironwork, roofing, brick and lime pointing, and timber sash window restoration demonstrations, respectively. In particular the Society wants to acknowledge Shane Nolan MD of Nolans Conservation and Restoration who co-ordinated the skills demonstration and Nicola Matthews, Senior Architect, National Built Heritage Service, at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage for driving the skills training day and harnessing the contribution of speakers who were most generous in sharing their expert knowledge of the below subjects:
- Kenny Davy, Kelbuild (main contractor on the Magazine Fort), and Shane Nolan, Nolans Group Conservation & Restoration Ltd. (specialist conservation sub-contractor on the Magazine Fort) – an overview of the Magazine Fort project and the specialist skills it required
- Susan Roundtree, retired conservation architect – looking at brick in historic buildings
- Dr Nessa Roche, Senior Architectural Advisor, NBHS – looking at windows in historic buildings
- Dr Caroline Engel Purcell, OPW – improving energy efficiency in heritage properties, whose paper was presented on the day by Audrey Farrell, Senior Architect, OPW.
- Michael Scott, Architectural Conservation Officer, Galway City Council – traditional building skills and THRIVE
- Nicola Matthews, Senior Conservation Architect, NBHS & National Contact Point for the NEB, and Tom Pollard, Pollard Conservation & Restoration, and until recently the co-ordinator of the All-Ireland Heritage Skills Training Programme – a culture of adaptation and reuse
Site Tours
The skills training day was further augmented by site tours of the Magazine Fort from OPW Senior Architect, Audrey Farrell and OPW Architect, Angela Rueda, who were responsible for the architectural conservation of the Magazine Fort; and the specialist conservation sub-contractor on the Magazine Fort, Shane Nolan, MD of Nolans Conservation and Restoration.
A Legacy for Irish Towns
The training day was requested by Rose Power, Southern Regional Assembly and Patrick Devine, Northern and Western Regional Assembly to promote the use of traditional building skills and materials for the conservation of projects delivered under THRIVE; and to strengthen the values of the New European Bauhaus (NEB) in the delivery of those projects, namely, sustainability, aesthetics (beauty), and inclusion (together). Participating local authorities were invited to consider how similar skills days could be integreated and delivered into their own THRIVE projects and in the process support local economies, the reuse of vacant town-centre buildings and the circular economy.
Acknowledgments
The event formed part of the Society's Conservation Education Programme, which is supported by the National Built Heritage Service and the Society wishes to sincerely thank the NBHS, in particular Sarah Waters, PO for Heritage and Nicola Matthew, Senior Conservation Architect of the NBHS, for their support of the Conservation Education Programme, and the skills training day, as well as The Heritage Council for its broader support of the Society through its Heritage Organisation Fund 2026.
To view photomontages of the traditional skills training days please view the below two PDFs which contain a selection of images taken by John Lalor, National Built Heritage Service, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage:
Traditional Skills Training Day Photomontage by John Lalor, NBHS, 1.
Traditional Skills Training Day Photomontage by John Lalor, NBHS, 2.

Caption: Paul McDonnell, OPW Phoenix Park Superintendent; Emmeline Henderson, IGS Assistant Director & Conservation Manager; Shane Nolan, MD Nolans Conservation & Restoration Ltd.; Kevin 'Boxer' Moran, TD, Minister of State for the OPW; Jacqueline Hall, IGF Chairperson; and Audrey Farrell, OPW Senior Conservation Architect, OPW.




















