RPS acted as Civil and Structural Engineers for Horseracing Ireland’s new prestigious headquarters at Ballymany, The Curragh, Co. Kildare. The €9m project, delivered ahead of schedule and within budget, was officially opened on 11th February, 2008 by then Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Séamus Brennan T.D.

This 28,000 sq ft building at Ballymany brings together a total of 110 people who work for Horseracing Ireland (HRI) and its subsidiary companies Tote Ireland, Irish Thoroughbred Marketing and HRI Racecourses Ltd. The opening of the new headquarters completes the relocation of the administrative headquarters of Irish racing from Leopardstown to the Newbridge area following an interim period in Kill.

The building houses a unique library, containing a comprehensive written record of the history of Irish racing including racing calendars from 1800 to the present day and a collection of stud books, guides, statistical abstracts and racing press material.

The project involved the construction of a 2 storey office building (27,000sq ft) of mainly concrete sub & superstructure with a structural steel roof frame. The shell consists mainly of curtain walling & glazing to all elevations, self coloured render finishes to the rear & gables of the building & granite cladding to the front elevation.

The external site works consist of the construction of all underground services with a foul pumping station outside the site boundary lines, the construction of a 150 space car-park, landscaping, external road widening, brick-paving & asphalt road ways, public lighting and a surface water attenuation pond. The 135 cu. m surface water attenuation pond doubled as a fire fighting reservoir serving a ring main surrounding the building.