Images from the Collen Archive

The Collen family’s involvement with the building trade dates back to 1810, when the stonemason John Collen, and later his son Thomas, were active at Tandragee in County Armagh. 

By 1872, John had opened another builders’ yard and an office in Dublin. 

The new company, Collen Brothers (Dublin) Limited, combined experience with innovation. A period of rapid expansion began in the late 1950s; this led to an increase in employee numbers and more managerial delegation. However, Standish and Lyal remained the key decision makers. The atmosphere was very much that of a family business with a strong sense of community.

In the 1960s, Lyal Collen initiated the creation of an in-house design office; it was later incorporated as Collen Design Limited. This enabled the company to offer clients a complete design-and-build service, something which was quite unusual in Ireland at the time.

Collen’s work was often closely intertwined with Ireland’s economic and industrial development, especially in the 1960s. At Dublin Port, the company designed and built Ireland’s first roll-on roll-off car ferry terminal in just nine months, ready for the British & Irish Steam Packet Company (B&I) Dublin-Liverpool car ferry service to begin in May 1968. 

In a new departure during the late 1960s, Collen acquired land at Tallaght, just outside Dublin City, and developed what became the country’s largest industrial estate. The company prepared and sold factory sites; they often derived a double benefit by subsequently securing building contracts from the site purchasers. 

Construction projects which reflected aspects of Irish society and culture were a regular feature of Collen’s business. The company won several contracts to build community facilities. At Abbeyleix, Collen reconstructed the old fever hospital, replacing it with a new hospital, which opened in September 1936; the project was financed by the Irish Free State Hospitals’ Sweepstakes lottery scheme.

The Royal Dublin Society was another prestigious client from whom Collen regularly won contracts. These included major projects such as the construction of Sandymount Hall and the Simmonscourt Pavilion (completed in 1949 and 1975), as well as renovation and reconstruction projects such as the new library (completed in 1965).