Demolition work underway on derelict 'dilapidated' Cork city eyesore buildings 

Demolition work has commenced at four adjoining derelict properties on Cork's North Main Street - seven years after their partial collapse. 

Cork City Council had been advised to demolish the buildings at 62-65 North Main Street by consultant engineers who under took a visual inspection of the buildings, finding two of them to be in a "poor and dilapidated condition'.

Plans had been underway to redevelop the buildings, which have been in council ownership for four years, but they have now deteriorated to the point that they are “an immediate public safety concern”.

The four formerly privately-owned adjoining buildings were placed on the council’s Derelict Sites Register in 2015.

Following a partial collapse in 2019, the council stepped in to carry out emergency works, demolishing some rear structures and installing a temporary structural steel system to stabilise the street façade.

This structure is now corroded, while other damage found recently includes loose, cracked, displaced and missing masonry; rotten and deteriorated embedded timbers, and the corrosion of elements of the façade retention system.

Specialist contractors will carry out the work, which got underway yesterday evening and will take several weeks to complete, extending into the new year.

There will be a footpath closure outside the four properties to ensure public safety, and a section of the road will be reconfigured, resulting in the temporary loss of six parking spaces. Access to North Main Street will be maintained at all times.

Compulsory Purchase Order

After the partial collapse and emergency works, the council moved to acquire the properties by Compulsory Purchase Order, a process which was completed three years later in 2022.

Last May, a tender process inviting development proposals for the site begun, but consultant engineers monitoring the buildings found deterioration had advanced and that numbers 62 and 65 were “in a poor and dilapidated condition”, warning of “substantial further deterioration”.

The engineer’s report said that the condition of the remaining buildings represented “an immediate public-safety concern”, and recommended all four buildings be “carefully dismantled in a planned and controlled manner without undue delay”.

A record of the existing buildings and façades will be prepared before demolition and will be used to help inform future development of the site, which the council says they remain “fully committed to”, though the tender process seeking redevelopment proposals has now been terminated.

Social Democrat councillor for the area, Niamh O’Connor, welcomed that the buildings will finally be demolished.

“They have blighted traders and shoppers on one of the oldest streets in the city for far too long,” she said.

Sad day for city's heritage

However, she said “It is also a sad day for the city’s heritage - North Main Street is part of Cork’s historic spine, the medieval heart of the city, and it has been left to rot for years.

“Preserving Cork’s built heritage means acting before buildings reach the point where demolition is the only safe option, not after.” 

She called for clear timelines for the redevelopment tender, a commitment that the site will be delivered, and a design that respects the character and history of the street.

“A cleared site must not become another long-term gap in the streetscape,” she said.

Independent councillor Kieran McCarthy said: “This is very disappointing that the buildings have come to this.

“There needs to be tighter dereliction laws to make sure that this sort of dereliction does not lead to demolition."