1247 | 717 | Challenges of restoring and repopulating vacant town buildings in Ireland | Liam Heaphy1, Philip Crowe2, Alison Harvey3, Oliver Kinnane2
Much of Ireland’s architectural inheritance is crumbling and rotting for many reasons including a preference for newbuild in suburbanised developments or one-off houses. Much of this heritage has, in a postcolonial context been accepted and absorbed into a general understanding of the complexities of Irish architecture. However, towns and villages have nevertheless through long-term neglect been further socially stigmatised as places of antisocial behaviour with dated, cold, and damp buildings. When allied to the existing fear of adapting and restoring protected buildings, as opposed to merely retaining facades and visual continuity, the everyday heritage buildings of towns (including outbuildings such as stables, walls, and remains of other structures) are under significant risk of being lost. _x000D_
TREBUChEt (Town REvitalisation through the Integration of Vacant BUildings into the Circular Economy) engages with the heritage buildings that form much of Ireland’s town and cityscapes, as well as rural villages and hinterlands. While many prominent buildings are listed, providing some recognition of their cultural value, most heritage is not. Restoring and revitalising our towns and villages will need to be a central aim of our carbon neutrality goals for 2050. Our project will make these carbon emissions savings explicit by comparing the emissions costs of restoration of town buildings versus either greenfield new build or demolition and rebuild. This presentation, in the early stages of the project, reviews vacancy data and the policy landscape for vacant homes and town revitalisation in Ireland, based on consultation with relevant bodies and the experience of the Heritage Council’s Collaborative Town Centre Health Check Programme.
Liam Heaphy1, Philip Crowe2, Alison Harvey3, Oliver Kinnane2
1 Irish Centre for High-End Computing, University of Galway 2 School of Architecture, Planning and Environmental Policy, University College Dublin 3 Heritage Council of Ireland
ID Abstract: 717