New headquarters for the VHI are to be based on the top of the former Scots Presbyterian church hall on Dublin’s Abbey Street.

The front of the church will become the main access entrance and foyer for the new offices, while the church hall and former lecture theatre will have ‘a new lightweight glass and metal exoskeleton structure’ of up to seven storey’s built above and around them.

Designed by Architect McCauley Daye O’Connell, the new building will be U-shaped around the church, which will also be refurbished as part of the plan, submitted to the City Council.

According to the planning application, two redevelopment options were examined - the first, to insert office floors into the existing buildings, was rejected because it was potentially intrusive into the internal church spaces.

The development would increase the amount of floor space available to the VHI sevenfold, from 405 square metres to nearly 2,800 square metres.

The church is the only surviving building by Limerick architect William Fogerty, a former president of the Architects Association of Ireland.

A decision on the plan is due from an Bord Pleanala before the end of April.

Source: Sunday Business Post