Cork City Council Advised to Demolish Four Derelict Properties on North Main Street

Cork City Council has been advised to demolish four adjoining derelict properties in its ownership at Nos. 62-65 North Main Street. Specialist contractors will carry out the work, with preliminary works getting underway tonight, Monday, 9 November.

The work is expected to take several weeks to complete, extending into the new year. A footpath closure outside the four properties will be required to ensure public safety.

A section of road carriageway will be reconfigured in the area to facilitate the works, resulting in the temporary loss of six parking spaces, three on either side of the road, but access to North Main Street will be maintained at all times.

The properties, which were in private ownership, were placed on the City Council’s Derelict Sites Register in 2015. Following a partial collapse of No 63 in 2019, the City Council sought independent expert engineering advice and stepped in to carry out emergency works, including the demolition of the rear structures at Nos 63 and 64, and the installation of a temporary structural steel system to stabilise the street façade of Nos 63 and 64.

The City Council then moved to acquire all four properties by Compulsory Purchase Order, with a view to removing dereliction at the site, and all four properties were finally vested with the City Council in 2022.

The City Council explored a number of potential redevelopment options for the buildings and the site, while monitoring the condition of the properties throughout, before deciding on a specific course of action. Last May, it embarked on a tender process, and invited development proposals for the site.

However, as part of the ongoing monitoring of the buildings, consultant engineers who subsequently conducted a visual inspection report found the deterioration now visible includes loose and missing masonry, rotten and deteriorated embedded timbers, and cracking and displacement of masonry. It also includes deterioration of masonry support elements, detached building components, and corrosion of elements of the temporary façade retention system.

Their report found that Nos. 62 and 65 are in a poor and dilapidated condition and that substantial further deterioration of their structural fabric should be anticipated. The report said:

“In our opinion, the current condition of the remaining buildings and retained façades represents an immediate public-safety concern. There is a credible risk of localised structural failure and the potential for more significant partial collapse as deterioration progresses.

Accordingly, we recommend that the remaining structures at Nos. 62–65, including the retained façades at Nos 63 and 64, should now be appropriately recorded and carefully dismantled in a planned and controlled manner without undue delay.”

An appropriate record of the existing buildings and façades will be prepared before demolition and will be used to help inform future development of the site.

The tender process launched in May seeking redevelopment proposals for the site has now been terminated. Cork City Council remains fully committed to securing the redevelopment of this key city centre site.