County Derry building firm wins Award for their construction of Sky-High Provence Art Gallery

A Derry building firm has won a major industry award for building an art gallery suspended over the Provençal landscape, designed by the renowned late architect Richard Rogers.

Setanta Construction Ltd. picked up the accolade for the Federation of Master Builders’ at the Northern Ireland Master Builder Awards 2023, held at the Malone Hotel in Belfast on Friday 30 June.

The awards recognise excellence in Northern Ireland’s small and medium-sized construction companies.

Setanta Construction are serial winners at the awards, and were named Northern Ireland’s Building Company of the Year in 2021.

The firm scooped the Commercial or Public Sector Project award for their work on Richard Rogers Drawing Gallery, sited in the vineyard of Château La Coste outside Aix-en-Provence.

The gallery was Rogers’s final project, begun before he retired in 2020 and completed by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners (RSHP). Rogers is best known as the architect of Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Lloyd’s building and Leadenhall Building (the ‘Cheesegrater’) in London. He passed away in 2021, aged 88.

Setanta Construction is a second-generation family timber-frame business based in Magherafelt, founded by brothers Mark and Niall Gribbin in 2000. 

Mark and Niall are both carpenters and previously worked as joiners for the family business Gribbin Construction.

They were asked to build the enclosure for the 120-square-metre art gallery, which is encased in a bright orange steel structure and soars dramatically over a hillside.

The building is only attached to the ground by four small feet and tension rods cantilever the structure eighteen metres above the forest floor. 

Visitors walk a historic Roman track before crossing a lightweight bridge to enter the gallery, where they are greeted by sweeping views of the ancient ruin of La Quille castle and the mountains of Luberon National Park.

The complex, modern design required Setanta to collaborate with specialist engineers, steel workers and architects. 

The project team had to use bridge-type engineering and construction techniques to account for seismic activity and climate conditions in the region, with the cables at the entrance designed to expand and contract in response to changing temperatures.

Setanta Construction manufactured the enclosure at their Magherafelt workshop in modular form so that it could be shipped to France and assembled on-site – an approach they previously used in their work on Claridge’s hotel in London and cutting-edge modular homes. 

They used I-Beams specially treated against termites and sheeted with Garnicia Duraply to ensure the structure will stand the test of time.

Their work was praised by Château La Coste Construction Director David Magill: “Initially we were worried due to the scale and distance of the project with the main frame structure having to be installed in the same process/timescale as the main structural steel frame," he said.

“Due to the meticulous planning and detailing every aspect came together seamlessly and effortlessly. I would be very happy to recommend Setanta Construction to anyone.”

The judges clearly agreed, describing the gallery as “a stunning project combining off-site innovation with a challenging build.”

Setanta Construction added: “The Setanta Construction team are incredibly grateful to have won this award as it represents the hard work and effort that went into making this project such a success. 

"We would like to acknowledge our client, Paddy McKillen, for giving us the opportunity to work on such an outstanding construction project.”