Council to do 'stocktake' of Cork city's historic buildings
Lord Mayor of Cork, Kieran McCarthy, said: “I had a motion down on this relating to North Main Street, South Main Street, and Washington Street a number of years ago, where bits and pieces of buildings were falling." Picture: David Creedon
Cork City Council is going to do a “stocktake” of the condition of almost 800 historic buildings to help shape future policy on dereliction and vacancy within the city.
It is teaming up with the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (NIAH) on the project which it hopes will help secure additional resources to assist custodians and owners of historic buildings to properly care for and repair these structures, if need be.
“It’s a very good thing,” said Cork City Lord Mayor, and historian, Kieran McCarthy.
“I had a motion down on this relating to North Main Street, South Main Street, and Washington Street a number of years ago, where bits and pieces of buildings were falling.
“The council didn’t have a document on where we were at on those buildings. And then we were always getting queries from people on things like ‘why aren’t we allowing people live above a shop?’ So it was about joining up those dots and getting that data.”
Mr McCarthy said that improving the condition of such buildings will also help towards reducing Cork’s carbon emissions and meeting climate change goals, and the initiative will help ensure funding can be funnelled in the right direction.
The NIAH is a State-run initiative under the auspices of the Department of Housing. It was established on a statutory basis to identify, record and assess the post-1700 architectural heritage of Ireland with a view to ensuring that this heritage is conserved and protected.
Under legislation, each local authority must create a record of protected structures (RPS). Cork City Council says it maintains a record of 1,200 such buildings of historic, architectural or other significance and this stocktake will assess around 770 of them.
“The building forms, the shapes of the street and quays and the historic spaces of the city combine to give it its celebrated unique expression of Cork through the centuries,” the council says.
“There are several distinctive architectural styles to Cork city including the iconic merchants’ houses with external steps to the first-floor entrance, the many bow-fronted buildings, slate hung facades and camber-arched windows.
“Structures and areas within the city have acquired character over time and in addition to having cultural significance are important resources in keeping our city attractive and with a true identity in a rapidly changing society.”
The fieldwork for the project is expected to begin next month and last for 60 days. It’ll involve recording the condition, status and any changes to the fabric of each of the buildings, as well as making a risk assessment of each structure.
It will also need to record “negatives on character” such as features that have fallen into disrepair and may need fixing. And it will record whether the building is vacant and for how long it has been so, as well rating its condition from excellent or good to derelict or ruin.
The issue of dereliction and vacancy plagues other areas of Cork. According to CSO data, there were 17,280 vacant dwellings within Cork county last year. This was down from the last Census but also comes within the context of Cork’s population rising 7.1% since 2016.
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