THE REG Bar / Restaurant 2014
The Reginald Bar complex had been closed for several years at the time of purchase and there was much evidence of unfortunate modification over it's lifetime. It is located in the historic Viking Triangle district and hence involved close coordination with Waterford City Council's architects directly and indirectly to create a new public plaza at Reginald’s Tower. The project posed many architectural, structural, heritage, archaeological and commercial challenges and presented many varied constraints. The City Wall, a national monument, runs through it, the ground promised archaeological discovery and most of the added residential properties were protected structures.
The challenge was to create a vibrant, sustainable business with new attractions to make the most of this unique site. This was achieved by carefully removing a substantial amount of the 1970's structures near Reginald’s Tower to create a new entrance area and feature roof terrace restaurant with new views of the back of the tower and out onto the river. All this had to be done retaining the scale and charm of the old while complying with the challenging current building regulations.
Long buried and lost old features were discovered along the way, like old archways / brick garden walls and flag stone floors, care was taken to retain these and meet the brief too.
