Ulster Bank O’Connell St. – Interior work

Just wondering what anyone else thinks of the work Ulster Bank have recently done in the ground floor of their O’Connell St. premises? I was quite taken aback myself at how severe and sudden the changes were, and sticking in tacky modern tan-coloured wood into the lovely old interior with dark wood panelling. The counter re-organisation in the main room seems drastic – previously they had an old-style ordinary counter (I can’t remember if it was a complimentary style to the interior, but it certainly was unobtrusive – was it even contemporary to the interior?). The new counter cuts the room up, with a floor to ceiling partition and screen in front of the counter – it is all brash cheap standard materials as any modern bank branch has.

I thought the work they did to the exterior was just about OK despite the high-contrast paint scheme using UB colours (despite being rather ugly-looking, it does perhaps bring out the detail of the building). But I personally consider the interior modifications absolutely shocking.

Could they not have even at the least used chairs in the foyer upholstered in a suitably complimentary colour to the interior? The chairs have an uncomprimising reddish colour which seems unnecessary to the bank’s standard colour palette even – it’s just that those are the chairs they use as standard. It just seems to show absolutely *ZERO* consideration of the actual building they are using.