Stack A in Dublin's docklands - once a tobacco and wine warehouse, built in 1821 - is being redeveloped as CHQ, a smart designer retail/dining area with sheer glass shopfronts. Emma Cullinan reports

A former warehouse just along the quay from the Custom House in Dublin's Docklands is being converted into a smart retail and dining space.

The aim is to have a one-stop outlet where people can buy designer items, from contemporary furniture to sculpture, pottery and jewellery.

The main spenders have been identified as those who've just bought apartments. There will also be an exhibition space, private members wine club, five restaurants, spilling out on to a terrace at George's Dock, and perhaps a beauty spa too.

Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA) is confident that it has identified a market and says it has already had a great deal of interest.

They even have retailers on board, although they are not ready to say who. The 13,000 sq m (140,000 sq ft) building is due to open next August.

The wine club will have a strong link with the building's original use. The tobacco and wine warehouse was designed by architect John Rennie and built in 1821.

The brick and iron structure contained no timber as it was thought that this would be a fire risk - there's nothing like a store of tobacco going up in smoke.

Now recognised as a prime example of 19th century dock architecture, the building work has included the preservation and conservation of its finest elements.

Known in its industrial day as Stack A, it is to be renamed CHQ which, although it sounds like the name of an international intelligence organisation, simply stands for Custom House Quay.

The transformation of the building into a contemporary retail space has followed best conservation practice in which the finest parts of the existing building are shown off while additions are lightweight and clearly identified as something new.

This is better than attempting to copy what is already there and invisibly integrating the replicas. Dublin architectural firm Michael Collins worked on this in conjunction with UK-based Fitzroy Robinson, who are experienced in retail developments.

The work, being project-managed by Dave Dundon, began with the removal of much of the roof. As many of the original slates as possible were salvaged and re-used.

The impressive cast-iron structure that holds up the roof was sandblasted and painted. Sandblasting was also carried out on the brickwork on the main ground floor and in the vaults below.

On the facade the joints were raked out and repointed. The work has also involved damp-proof courses and a lot of attention has been paid to incorporating wiring into flooring and through existing skylights above the vaults - as the restaurants, exhibition area and shops require a lot of modern day servicing.

The additions are predominantly glass and steel, the accepted way of sympathetically adding to ancient buildings. "These materials will act in direct contrast and complement the existing structure," say architects Fitzroy Robinson.

"The lightness of these materials and the sheer glass shopfronts will allow a greater transparency through the mall. They will cause minimal interference and have a minimal impact on the existing fabric."

The 45 shops within the building seem as if they have been gently dropped into this vast industrial cathedral. The glass retail boxes sit side-by-side, creating a central aisle.

The shops are well below roof level, allowing the cast-iron roof support and the sheer size of the building to be appreciated.

Windows at high level let in streams of light, currently diffused by builder's dust. A lot of these windows were badly damaged, so moulds were made of them, enabling the windows to be recast and reglazed.

Glass and steel also comprise the main fabric of the restaurant structure, added to the west side of the building, overlooking George's Dock.

Its glass roof sweeps down from the building and up again to form a canopy at the front.

Where the warehouse overlooks the Liffey, the front wall has gone, to be replaced by glazing that sits forward from the original building line. This allows light not only into the ground floor exhibition space but also into the vaults below. With four months to go before building work is complete, this space is looking promising.

The grand brick structure and functional, but beautiful, cast-iron roof support are part of history and it's a treat to be able to appreciate them in a working building.

It will be a further six months before the public will have access to CHQ, after all the interior fit-out is done.

Hopefully the mix of retail, dining and exhibition space will attract visitors.

The retail side sounds as if it will more than fill the gap left by the demise of DesignYard.

"It's been a fantastic but challenging job - being sympathetic to the structure while bringing it up to modern standards," says Dave Dundon.