A Dún Laoghaire barbershop transformed into a modern home: ‘I used to get my hair cut here as a kid’
Forget about living above the shop. Chartered surveyor Nick Taaffe is living in the shop, having brought a former barbershop in the heart of Dún Laoghaire back to life, through a combination of knowledge, grit and sheer determination. Where once stood a row of barber chairs, and a line of customers waiting for a short back and sides, now lies a bright and stylish three-bedroom home, with colourful terrazzo tiles on the floor, Crittall-style doors, an oak-crafted staircase and a carefully designed lighting scheme. But the renovation of Champs was neither quick nor easy. A construction professional, Taaffe is of a generation that graduated into the financial crisis and resulting recession around 2009. “It was brutal,” he recalls. He headed to New Zealand around 2015 to work on the post-earthquake rebuild in Christchurch, but it was never a long-term move. “I left to come back,” he says, remarking upon his return around 2017. He had saved up while away, with a plan to buy a home, and started looking at all different types of buildings around the Dún Laoghaire area, where he is from. “I always had an ambition to live in the area,” he says. Then an old barbershop, Champs, came up for sale. “I used to get my hair cut here as a kid,” he recalls. The property, which dates from the mid-19th century, had residential space above, but was in need of a significant revamp. “I knew this was going to be the one,” he says. It was late 2019, and a vigorous bidding process ensued, but he came out sale agreed, subject to planning permission, which subsequently came through. However, that same week the pandemic was called in Ireland. And then the world turned upside down. The bank decided to pull finance –“this was a risky project even before the pandemic” – and Taaffe was stuck. Should he pull out or look for another source of funds? “I spent my lockdown walking around a town looking at a ‘sale agreed’ sign that I had no finance for,” he says. But he was determined to see it through. He eventually got finance once more, and by 2021, he had finally closed the sale and got the keys. “I was then in ownership of a vacant barbershop in the middle of a pandemic. It was a bit better, but still difficult,” he says. But he was still determined. “I took the risk that the pandemic would end sooner than I’d run out of cash.” He focused on undertaking enabling works on the structure, and continued planning the project, getting four planning permissions through, while the pandemic rolled on. “I knew it was a special site.” But, as the Covid years drew to a close, another challenge reared its head: inflation. Costs were becoming “intolerable”, putting the viability of the project in doubt. “I didn’t know how I could get the finance needed to execute it.” Then, the Society of Chartered Surveyors in Ireland (SCSI) rang him, having heard about his project. They were looking at getting grants for vacant buildings, and asked if he would be involved in the campaign. While the Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant was subsequently introduced, in July 2022, it was only available up to €50,000. That November it was expanded nationwide, but following the SCSI report published in March 2023, which recommended boosting the grant to address ongoing viability issues, it was increased: to €50,000 to renovate a vacant property, or €70,000 if the property is derelict. Latest figures show that the grant has been used to restore more than 6,300 vacant and derelict homes across Ireland. “That was my way out of my situation,” says Taaffe, who secured grant approval in September 2023. “The grant saved this project and got me to the finish line. What it allowed was it gave me comfort to understand my own financial risk, and borrow at appropriate level and ultimately execute the project.” The grant also meant he received input from the vacant homes team at Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown council . “It’s not just about the grant funding, it’s about the assistance that comes with the fund from the vacant homes grant,” says Taaffe. Once you get the grant, you then have 13 months to finish it out. But of course the grant is paid at the end of this period, so Taaffe had to finance this part himself, through a mixture of cash and personal loans, before claiming it at the end. But it provided a welcome impetus to the project. “The site was full of lads, the boot was down and we were flying. The grant allowed me to complete with speed and confidence.” As chair of the SCSI committee for vacancy and dereliction, Taaffe would like to see the grant extended to developers converting vacant properties into multi-unit developments. The society is due to publish further research on this in the coming weeks. Then, just as the project was back on track, Taaffe’s father, Tom, died. The loss hit hard, and the project stalled again. “He was a good guide in my life in general,” says Taaffe. “Grief knocked me, it took my focus and energy from me.” He eventually got the project back on track to complete it, but it remains a sadness that his dad never got to see the finished project. “He’d love it.” But he’s still a part of it. Taaffe took a table from his dad’s old business premises, and got the legs sprayed yellow. And as fate would have it, the charity shop across the road had two chairs in the exact same colour. Now it’s a brightly coloured desk at the front of the house, positioned in front of the oak staircase. It has been a long process, going from sale agreed in 2019 to completion today, but as well as the impact of Covid, inflation and his father’s death, the project was also undoubtedly complex. Five decision-making strategies to make your renovation less daunting If you could rank vacant properties on a scale of 1-10 in complexity, Taaffe gives his a 10; it’s an infill site; the building dates from the 1850s; it needed a full structural upgrade; and it had no rear access, which meant everything had to come in and out the front door, which opened on to a main street. To take something like this on, he says you need “knowledge, drive and money”. “You have to have the drive, and if you don’t have the knowledge you have to buy it. These three ingredients are needed.” If there is a “secret sauce” to the barbershop project, it’s undoubtedly Taaffe’s professional expertise. “Finance will only be provided if the bank believes the project is viable and that the purchaser can successfully execute the project,” he says. But complex or not, Taaffe has achieved a lot with his barbershop renovation, which includes a structural steel and timber frame three-storey extension – a spider crane had to be used to bring in the steel through the front door – and it now has a B2 energy rating. “I didn’t want it to look too modern, I wanted it to look warm,” he says. Indeed, despite how narrow it is – at only 3.2m wide – it is very bright, which Taaffe achieved by carefully positioned rooflights – such as those at the top of the stairs and above the living area – as well as a floor-to-ceiling door opening on to the courtyard. Travelling up through the central core of the building, the staircase “was extremely challenging” says Taaffe – and made more so by his desire to fit three bathrooms within this core. Storage is considered throughout; the washing machine is hidden behind a sliding door in the downstairs bathroom, while the sink sits on top of the toilet. His skills as a chartered surveyor are evident everywhere. At the front of the house, for example, he didn’t want to get rid of the original windows, but it was very expensive to replace the glass. So instead, he added new windows to the deeply set window sills, giving an extra layer of insulation, as well as keeping the noise from the street out. Managing your own home renovation? Here’s what you need to know “It’s a really good solution in line with the look of the building and my budget,” Taaffe says. When quoted a couple of thousand for a black Crittall-style door in between the entrance room and kitchen, he instead opted for some “value engineering” and made the door frame specifically to fit an off-the-shelf door. Air conditioning is another feature he wanted. “Buildings need to be able to live and breathe at different times of the year,” Taaffe says. And the tradesmen made a difference to the project. “One of my very good friends was a plumber on the project – I wouldn’t have achieved what I wanted without his expertise,” he says. As well as the joy of a new home, there’s an added bonus in renovating such properties of being part of the local history of the area. When the barbershop previously featured in Open House, before it was renovated, Taaffe got a request from an elderly lady to visit. It turned out that she had been born in the property, living with her family upstairs, while her father ran the barbershop downstairs. Now the barbershop sign is back up outside – it came from a vacant building in Athy, as the existing one was broken – and Dún Laoghaire has one more formerly empty unit that has been brought back to life. You can view 8A, The Barbershop, as part of this year’s Open House programme; see openhousedublin.com Open House 2026: More homes on view Griffith Avenue: Renovation and extension of a 1930s redbrick semidetached house on Griffith Avenue, Drumcondra. Ardbrugh Road: Home designed by Richard Murphy Architects around its sloping, tapering plot and spectacular Dublin Bay views. Enniskerry Road: A restored redbrick terraced house in Phibsborough, by REIR Studio. Rinn na Mara: A 175-year-old cottage that has been restored to an A1 standard in Bray, Co Wicklow.