Strokestown Park House

About the Project

Strokestown Park House located in Roscommon is a historic attraction comprised of a Georgian Palladian Mansion, the National Famine Museum and 100 acres of gardens and woodland. This project involves a retrofit of current facilities to transform current offerings to negate the varying levels of humidity. This humidity was resulting in mould growth and deterioration of building fabric. This was extremely concerning for the client as this building houses thousands of original famine-era documents which are of great historic significance.

IN2 employed the use of Dynamic Simulation Modelling to replicate existing temperature and humidity conditions, which were then utilised to demonstrate that the fluctuating humidity levels within the building were outside the recommended range for Heritage buildings. Many technological solutions were assessed for the building, including full air conditioning systems to maintain close control, which would, unfortunately, be costly to operate.

However, an alternative solution we pioneered involved the use of electric heaters controlled for relative humidity as opposed to temperature. The simulations demonstrated that this less expensive approach could be relied upon to maintain humidity levels within Heritage guidelines and protect the building and its valuable contents. The chosen strategy devised by IN2 will also result in an overall 15% carbon reduction for the building. IN2 Director Ian Carroll was invited to appear on the hit RTE 1 TV show, Great Irish Interiors, to talk about our conservation works and how the engineering solution we designed will help protect Strokestown Park House and its valuable contents.