Four Court Dome Repairs

SCB Services were contracted to repair the Four Courts Dome. The original dome was destroyed at the start of the civil war, and was rebuilt by the OPW, using reinforced concrete. The reinforced concrete had started to spall due to both carbonation and chloride induced corrosion. Due to the inaccessibility of the dome and the risk to the public from falling concrete, it was decided to employ a long term solution. SCB Services repaired the concrete elements of the structure and installed a cathodic protection system (CP), which has a 60 year + design life. Our tests onsite were able to show that the corrosion of the reinforcement had been stopped. A monitoring point that we installed, on the building, will allow either wireless or physical monitoring of the CP system over the coming decades, proving that the system is working as designed. This system does not need any external power supply and is completely buried within the structure, protecting it from either accidental, or intentional damage.

The internal dome was then coated with a midnight blue anti-carbonation coating. Gold leaf was then applied to form the constellations. Adrian Pearce of Remmers, joked that it was probably the most beautiful anti carbonation coating in the world!