Stone specialists have often said that if they are consulted at the design stage of a project they can save clients a lot of money by offering advice on how to make best use of the stone. The new Medical School at Limerick University is the proof of that. The advice does not always have to be accepted. There can be a conflict between a designer's desire to use the largest size of stone possible and the most economical way of using that stone - which is always likely to be to use smaller elements because there will be less waste. At the University of Limerick, Dublin and London consultant Carrig was engaged to advise on the use of the stone that Grafton Architects, an Irish practice, wanted to use. The stone would convey the gravitas of the 1,800m~2 medical school it was to be used on as the centrepiece of this part of the campus, which also includes two new student accommodation buildings. The student accommodation is brick, but has been designed with deep window reveals in sympathy with the stone design of the medical centre and incorporating sloping cills of limestone to reinforce that unity.
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