City Hall to assess 800 historic buildings in Cork city to determine those in need of repair work

CORK City Council will soon begin an assessment of a large number of the city’s historic buildings.

The project will see the assessment of over 800 buildings across Cork city in an effort to improve any historic structures in need of repair.

Lord Mayor of Cork Kieran McCarthy, has welcomed the move to improve the conditions of the old buildings, revealing that it is something he had been working towards for a number of years.

The councillor and historian explained that he had previously put forward a motion to have crumbling buildings on South and North Main Street assessed.

Cork City Council is set to collaborate with the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage on the initiative.

The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage is a State initiative under the administration of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and aims to identify, record, and evaluate the architectural heritage of Ireland, uniformly and consistently as an aid in the protection and conservation of the built heritage.

It is hoped that, by cataloguing the buildings in need of repair, the project will help to provide resources to properly care for these structures.

Mr McCarthy has said that the data gathering mission will be a good thing for Cork and the first of its kind regarding the state of its historical buildings.

“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?’” he explained.

“So, it was about joining up those dots and getting that data.”

Mr McCarthy said that improving the condition of such buildings will greatly benefit the reduction of carbon emissions and meeting climate change goals in Cork.

The first phase of the project is due to begin in early September. This will involve an overall assessment of each building, detailing whether or not the building is vacant, and if applicable, how long the building has been idle.

The fieldwork will also carry out an overall risk assessment and will rate the structure as being in good condition, derelict or in ruin.

According to Cork City Council there are 1,200 known buildings of historic, architectural or other significance in Cork city and this stock take will assess almost 800 of them.