Masterplan Objective 04 – Conservation of Architectural Heritage

Masterplan Objective 04 Conservation of Architectural Heritage 04

Mary Immaculate College was founded in Limerick in 1898 and the Foundation Building dates from this year. The College campus has grown organically in the intervening years and several of the buildings on the campus have been included both on the Register of Protected Structures maintained by Limerick City & County Council and the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage. The acquisition of the former Mount St Vincent Convent complex, since developed as the John Henry Newman Building and an extension of the Limerick campus, has added to the number of Protected Structures in the ownership of the College. The current list of Protected Structures on the Limerick Campus are as follows:

• The Foundation Building • The Recreation Hall • The Chapel • The Residential Block • Summerville House • Summerville Lodge • John Henry Newman Building • John Henry Newman Chapel • St Vincent’s Hall

In additional to protected structures, it is important to note that the Limerick campus falls partially within two Architectural Conservation Areas as set out in the Limerick City Development Plan. See: MIC 20 | Limerick RPS & ACA (Protected Structures & Architectural

Conservation Areas) - p52

In Thurles, the campus has an even longer history dating back to the 1830’s. The current list of Protected Structures on the Thurles Campus are as follows:

• MIC Thurles main building • Gated entrance to the campus

In accordance with the obligations set out in the Planning & Development Act 2000, MIC is committed to the protection of the Protected Structures in its ownership through conservation best practice including their preservation, repair, restoration and refurbishment as appropriate. Indeed, it is widely recognised that one of the best ways of ensuring that a Protected Structure does not fall into disrepair is to keep it in use.

Notwithstanding this, the continued use of protected structures does provide many challenges. This is particularly the case where the nature of the current use differs from the original use of the protected structure and where the new use has particular requirements that lead to impacts on the fabric, appearance or setting of the Protected Structure.

Therefore, in addition to physical interventions to building layout that may be required to suit new usages, the requirement to provide modern services, in