1971 – ESB District Offices, Portlaoise, Co. Laois

Including a service yard as well as an office building for the region, the use of concrete with brick is amongst the main themes of Robinson Keefe Devane’s work at the time. Here, the brick is a pale yellow rather than the darker tones used at Stephen Court in Dublin from the same year. There is an inversion of tone here, lighter walls, darker roofline, contrasting with the darker brick, paler parapet of many of their buildings. Also here is that radiused edge usually used on their concrete finishing at street level, but on a larger scale, defining the roof overhang. Now offices for ESB Networks, the building is largely intact – the overhanging entrance canopy has been replaced, and the glazing has been sensitively upgraded.