Friday, October 22, 2010
A PARTIAL building collapse has sparked fears for the safety of buildings in the part of Cork city which bore the brunt of last November’s massive flood.
Several internal floors in an unoccupied four-storey building on Grenville Place collapsed just before noon yesterday. No one was injured.
The mid-17th century building was once home to the famous mathematician, George Boole, the father of modern algebra, and had been unoccupied for about a year.
Grenville Place was the ground zero of the November 19 disaster. Flood waters swept up the Western Road and Mardyke, and swamped the heart of the Middle Parish with up to five feet of water.
Such was the volume of the deluge at Grenville Place that the water burst through the quay walls on the River Lee’s north channel.
The damaged building is just yards from the quay wall breach, which has yet to be repaired.
Locals voiced concerns last night that the flood has weakened the foundations of several of the old buildings in the area.
However, a spokesman for the city council said it is too early to state categorically whether the incident is linked to flood damage.
Mardyke Residents Association spokesman Barry Keane who has renewed calls for a public inquiry into what caused the flood, said he was not surprised by the collapse.
"Many of these buildings would have very old foundations, laid before modern piling techniques were developed. So it’s not surprising given what happened last November," he said.
There was a full response from the city’s fire brigade to yesterday’s incident.
Firefighters used hydraulic lifts to hoist city council building control inspectors to a point where they could assess the damage and gauge the stability of the building. They also examined neighbouring buildings.
They have closed roads in the area, and closed St Vincent’s footbridge, which links the North Mall to the junction of Grenville Place and Bachelor’s Quay.
The council spokesman said the owner of the property is co-operating fully with the council.
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