Presidential glasshouses to get revamp

The President's 19th Century glasshouses are to get a revamp, it emerged today.

The OPW wants to restore the 1843-built Turner Range of Peach Houses in the grounds of Aras an Uachtarain.

The wrought and cast iron glasshouses, which are a protected structure, measure 65 metres long by 4.5m wide and 4m high.

As well as the general restoration, the OPW wants to provide ramps for people with disabilities and upgrade interior and exterior footpaths.

The successful contractors will have to work under the tight security detailed to the Aras grounds.

An OPW spokesman declined to reveal the estimated cost of the restoration.

“The overall budget is commercially-sensitive as we have now entered the tendering process,” he added.

The glasshouses were designed by Richard Turner, a Dublin ironmaster.

Turner is also responsible for the curvilinear range of glasshouses in the Botanic Gardens, which won the OPW a Europa Nostra gold medal for its restoration project in 1997.