Dalkey Book Festival At loreto abbey

The Dalkey Book Festival is one of Ireland’s leading literary and ideas festivals, bringing together internationally recognised writers, thinkers, and performers across a four-day programme of talks, debates, and live events in Dalkey, Co. Dublin.

BILD has worked with the festival over multiple years, delivering temporary event infrastructure across a range of sites in Dalkey. For the 2026 festival, the project centred on delivering a new flagship venue at Loreto Abbey.

Due to the potential closure of one of the festival’s principal venues, the organisers required a temporary structure capable of recreating the capacity, atmosphere and audience experience of the space in question while operating within the constraints of an active school campus. The structure also formed part of a wider programme of over 90 events and more than 100 speakers across the festival weekend.

The Dalkey Book Festival required a replacement for one of its primary venues due to the potential loss of a key site used in previous editions of the festival.

As a long-term production partner, maintaining continuity of capacity and audience experience was essential. The new venue at Loreto Abbey needed to accommodate large seated audiences while preserving the atmosphere and accessibility associated with the festival.

The site presented additional constraints, including hard ground conditions and the requirement to operate within an active school environment. Installation also had to be carefully coordinated around the school’s State examinations, ensuring there was no disruption to students, staff, or daily campus operations.

BILD designed and delivered a large-scale temporary structure engineered for high-capacity seated events within a constrained site, requiring careful coordination across multiple stakeholders. Completed over a two-day build programme, the installation was carefully phased around the school’s State examinations, allowing normal campus operations to continue without disruption while meeting the festival’s programme schedule.

A eucalyptus-framed wall system combined with full-width window panels created a bright, weatherproof space that maintained natural light and an open feel for audiences throughout the festival. With a 5.5m internal ceiling height, multiple 3m and 3.5m access points, and a 2.5m entrance height, the structure was designed to accommodate audiences, crew, equipment, and event operations efficiently throughout the festival.

As the structure was installed on hard ground within an active school campus, a non-penetrative ballast anchoring system was used in place of traditional ground fixings. A total of 51 tonnes of ballast secured the structure while protecting the existing surface without permanent ground disturbance or impact to the school facilities.

Hanging festoon lighting was integrated throughout the structure to create a warm, welcoming atmosphere suitable for both daytime and evening programming. Roll-up doorway systems, together with 3m and 3.5m access points, supported efficient audience circulation, crew movement, and event operations throughout the festival.