Walls buckle, bricks dislodged in city centre building

RESIDENTS of an historic inner-city community whose neighbours were evacuated after cracks appeared in their homes said they were still living in fear of a building collapse last night.

Seven Cork city council tenants remained in two hotels last night after they were evacuated from the council-owned 100-year-old Corporation Buildings in the city centre on Saturday afternoon.

They could be kept out of their homes for safety reasons until the end of the week, council officials warned.

But resident Pat Punch, who was not evacuated, said the people who remain in their homes are still afraid of a collapse.

Residents said they believe that vibrations from building work nearby is responsible for the damage to their homes.

They said that walls had buckled and bricks in arches over their doorways had been dislodged on Saturday afternoon.

A 50ft wall which adjoins six homes in a cul de sac, and behind which the development work is taking place, also began to sag.

The structural damage was clearly visible yesterday.

Marie Sheehan, who has lived in her Corporation Building home for 51 years, said she felt her house vibrating on Saturday.

“The vibrations started at about 8am and we could see bricks coming loose from the wall,” she said.

Council engineers met with engineers from the development company on site yesterday.

A spokesperson for the developers was unavailable for comment last night. He is understood to be in America.

A council spokesperson declined to be drawn on the liability issue.

But he confirmed that remedial works were carried out by city engineers following consultation with the developer’s engineers yesterday to stabilise the huge wall.

Senior council housing official Paul Moynihan said that these works were short-term and designed to stabilise the situation for now.

Long-term engineering solutions will be discussed later today, he said.

“We will bring solutions forward as quickly as we can,” he said.

Council engineers also inspected the evacuated homes and identified four homes which will need repair work.

“Whether that means underpinning or reconstruction has yet to be discussed,” he said.

But he confirmed the city will have to fix the problem and pick up the tab.

“We own those properties. If they have been damaged, we will be looking to recover any costs associated with the repair,” he said.

“But liability and who picks up the tab is something we will look at further down the line.”