The redevelopment of Croke Park, the RTE Studios, Boyne Valley Bridge and the Jack Lynch Tunnel have been named as among the 80 most iconic construction projects of the last 80 years.

Other projects selected included a number of significant milestones including the country’s first IR£1 million project - the building of the Galway Sanatorium - Ireland’s first skyscraper Liberty Hall, Ireland’s only pumped hydro-electric storage system at Turlough Hill and Ireland’s first large suburban shopping mall - the Stillorgan Shopping Centre.

The list has been published in the latest issue of Construction Magazine, Ireland’s leading publication for the construction and building industry. The list was developed to mark the 80th anniversary of the Construction Industry Federation, which was founded in 1935.

Projects were chosen which were innovative, iconic, award winning, the first of their kind or infrastructurally critical. Projects from each of the last eight decades are included on the list.

Speaking about the list, Construction Magazine editor Brian Foley said: “This list celebrates some of the really great construction projects that have been undertaken in this country over the last 80 years. In recent times there has been a lot of criticism aimed at the construction sector, particularly around certain badly built or poorly conceived projects that have given the industry a bad name.

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“However as the projects in this list show, the construction industry plays a vital role in the economy and Irish society. It has contributed a lot to Irish life and some of these projects play an extremely important and positive role in the State.

“It was no easy feat refining the list to 80 projects. When you start looking through just how many great buildings or infrastructural developments the industry has contributed in this country you get a much better sense of how great an impact the sector has made.”

CONSTRUCTION ICONS LIST

1930s & 1940s
- Cork City Hall
- Building the Dublin suburbs
- Theatre Royal, Dublin
- Butlins, Co. Meath
- Boland’s Mills, Dublin
- Galway Sanatorium

1950s & 1960s
- Busaras
- Private housing boom in Dublin
- Galway Cathedral
- Iniscarra Dam, Cork
- American Embassy, Dublin
- Ballymun Towers, Dublin
- Cork County Hall
- Cork Opera House
- Liberty Hall, Dublin
- Poolbeg Chimneys, Dublin
- RTE Studios, Dublin
- Stillorgan Shopping Centre, Dublin
- UCD Belfield

1970s & 1980s
- AIB Bank Centre, Dublin
- Aughinish Alumnia Plant, Limerick
- Central Bank, Dublin
- Irish Life Centre, Dublin
- NUI Galway
- Papal Cross, Phoenix Park, Dublin
- Shannon Airport
- Turlough Hill, Wicklow
- Blackrock Clinic, Dublin
- The DART, Dublin
- Eastlink, Dublin
- Microsoft, Dublin
- Naas Bypass, Kildare

1990s
- Boston Scientific, Galway
- Croke Park redevelopment
- Galway Racecourse Millennium Stand
- Guinness Storehouse, Dublin
- Intel, Kildare
- Jack Lynch Tunnel, Cork
- Major inter urban motorways
- Smithfield Regeneration, Dublin
- West Link, Dublin

2000s
- Adamstown, Dublin
- Aviva Stadium, Dublin
- Ballymun regeneration, Dublin
- Beacon South Quarter, Dublin
- Bord Gais Theatre, Dublin
- Boyne Valley Bridge, Louth
- Cathaleen Falls Bridge, Donegal
- Cliffs of Moher Interpretive Centre, Clare
- Commissioners of Irish Lights, Dublin
- Convention Centre, Dublin
- Corrib Gas Project, Mayo
- Criminal Courts of Justice, Dublin
- Terminal 2, Dublin Airport
- Dublin Port Tunnel
- Dundrum Town Centre
- The Elysian, Cork
- Facebook, Dublin
- Gasometer Apartments, Dublin
- Glucksman Gallery, Cork
- Google, Dublin
- New Guinness Brewhouse, Dublin
- IKEA, Dublin
- Kildare County Council Headquarters
- Limerick Tunnel
- LUAS
- M50 Upgrade
- Mater Hospital
- Meentycat Windfarm, Donegal
- Office of Public Works Headquarters, Meath
- Ritz Carlton Powerscourt, Wicklow
- Suir Bridge, Waterford
- Samuel Beckett Bridge, Dublin
- Sillogue Water Storage Facility, Dublin
- St. Mel’s Cathedral, Longford
- The Spire, Dublin
- Thomond Park, Limerick
- Trinity Biosciences Building
- Wexford Opera House
- Wyeth Medica, Dublin