Residents evacuated from homes

RESIDENTS of one of Cork’s most historic inner-city communities were evacuated over the weekend amid fears their homes were structurally unsafe.

Engineers from Cork City Council were called in to Corporation Buildings, a 34-home red-brick development between Paul Street and Lavitts Quay, on Saturday afternoon after reports of falling masonry.

Building work on a major retail development is being carried out on a nearby site.

Residents said last night they are convinced this project, and other recent major developments in the area, have damaged their homes.

The city fire brigade was called to the scene on Saturday afternoon after locals reported falling masonry.

City engineers inspected the homes afterwards, sealed off part of the complex and decided to evacuate the occupants of up to six homes.

They were put up in the Metropole Hotel on Saturday night and again last night.

It was not clear yesterday how long more they will have to stay out of their homes.

“We’ve been complaining about this kind of thing, the vibrations from construction shaking our houses, for a number of years,” one resident said last night.

“But our complaints have been falling on deaf ears.”

The damage it has done to some of the homes was clearly visible yesterday and included cracks in the arches over the doors of some of the homes. A grotto mural on the wall between the two rows of three-storey homes has also been damaged.

“They’ve told us that the wall might have to be demolished,” the resident said.