CONSERVATION TRIBULATIONS REPURPOSING OLDER BUILDINGS IN OUR VILLAGES, TOWNS AND CITIES REQUIRES A REVIEW OF EXISTING LEGISLATION, AND A HOLISTIC APPROACH.
S
ome 20 years ago the Planning and Development Act 2000
Dereliction
came into force, bringing with it, for the first time,
Dereliction has far-reaching consequences for our urban centres.
statutory protection for buildings other than under the
Dereliction spoils the party for everyone, discouraging investment by
National Monuments Acts. Today there are over 40,000 protected
neighbouring property owners, making a street a less pleasant place to
structures in Ireland, many located in city, town and village centres. Much
work, shop or play, and reducing property values. Recent commentators
has been achieved in those 20 years – the conservation skills base has
have likened abandoning urban buildings to “vandalism for the property-
increased considerably, from a comparatively low base – although skills
owning classes,” and have proposed a form of ‘use it or lose it’ property tax.
shortages continue and there is a worry that the sector will fail to attract
While this would help in managing the built environment for the common
new talent. While the legislation has achieved much, it could be questioned
good, it perhaps fails to recognise some of the wider issues at play. An ever-
whether it is adequately protecting our architectural heritage when one
present problem with the reuse of upper floors and multi-storey buildings
considers the number of protected structures at risk of, or suffering from,
in town centres is compliance with fire safety regulations, as well as other
dereliction at the heart of our cities, towns and villages.
building regulations such as access. Compartmentation of multi-use
Some consider the legislation overly restrictive, seeing it as an
buildings and the provision of means of escape commonly makes reuse of
impediment. Others have called for a grading system whereby the
upper floors impractical, to say nothing of being commercially unviable.
standards of protection would be lowered for less important buildings.
Thus, the impetus for maintaining and investing in the upper floors of a
While this could have benefits, it needs careful consideration and would
building is diminished! Unfortunately, blanket application of guidelines
require significant investment in re-surveying buildings to determine their
intended for the most part for new buildings, with little in the way of
grade. Ultimately, a cross-sector review of the legislation is needed: 20
exploring practical solutions or a risk-based analysis approach, simply
years is a long time, and there are new factors to contend with.
compounds matters.
FEATURE Frank Keohane Building Conservation Accredited Surveyor
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SURVEYORS JOURNAL Volume 10, Issue 4, Winter 2020
