projects
- - Feasibility study - Business plan - Subjectmatter research - Interpretation plan - Detailed design - Graphic design to print-ready stage - Preparation of build tender document and detailed specifications - Manufacturing and fit-out project management/ supervision
The Shackleton Museum
Housed in a stunningly restored 300-year-old building, The Shackleton Museum Athy is destined to become one of the world’s great polar museums, and the only one dedicated to the greatest explorer of them all, Ernest Shackleton. Born close to the village of Kilkea, between Castledermot and Athy, in the south of County Kildare in 1874, Ernest Shackleton is renowned for his courage, his care of his comrades, his immense contribution as an explorer, and for the epic escape from the shipwrecked Endurance where, against all odds, Shackleton brought his entire Polar team home across ice and ocean without losing a man.
In 2018, Mirador Media was commissioned to develop a feasibility study, business, and interpretative plan for the proposed redevelopment of the Museum. In parallel, Reddy Architects was tasked with architectural design leading into a Part 8 planning application successfully lodged in 2019. A successful application for funding was made through the Rural Regeneration Development Fund and following a competitive tender process in 2020, Mirador Media was tasked with the detailed design of the visitor experience whilst O’Brien Finucane Architects (OBFA) won the contract for the detailed design of the building.
The original concept and associated detailed specifications put forward by Mirador aims to tell the story of Shackleton’s epic adventures using the latest technology combined with the Museum’s unsurpassed artefact collections gathered and curated for over 100 years.
The tender for the exhibition manufacture and fit-out was published in the summer of 2024, managed by Keystone procurement under contract by Mirador with technical expertise in compiling the tender package and tenders’ assessment provided by the Mirador team. Construction is currently taking place both on-site and off-site. The Shackleton opened in October 2025 and is set to attract in excess of 100,000 visitors per annum to the region.
Mirador also worked with Kildare County Council to consider the impact of the attraction in the town in terms of regeneration and vehicular access. The attraction was designed within the broader scope of the town extending to public realm interventions at Emily Square and toward the banks of the River Barrow.
Watch the video at https://shackletonexperience.ie/
Read the reviews here: https://www.tripadvisor.ie/Attraction_Review-g551553-d33394870-Reviews-Shackleton_Experience_Athy-Athy_County_Kildare.html