Work to save Dublin’s Iveagh Markets from collapse will finally get under way in the new year, following the installation of infrastructure to make the building safe for workers.
The Edwardian structure on Francis Street, which is at the centre of a legal dispute over ownership, has been vacant for 30 years and has over the last decade declined into a ruinous condition.
Dublin City Council is seeking tenders for “essential repairs” at an estimated cost of €11 million to stabilise the building to “prevent further deterioration of the protected structure” and “safeguard the structure for future use”.
The council last year agreed to undertake structural safety works to the building, previously in its ownership and has recently completed the initial phase to make the building safe for more comprehensive repairs.
This initial phase involved the removal of loose materials and vegetation and installation of safe access routes and crash decks.
Next year work will start on extensive repairs to the roofs, parapet, and large roof lights of the Wet Market and Dry Market; stabilisation of an inward leaning parapet of the northeast corner; stabilisation of Diocletian-style arched windows and associated brickwork in the Dry Market; protection and securing of windows/doors; securing of structural columns which have been exposed; management of vegetation to ensure it does not further compromise the buildings; removal of lead paint; and provision of safe access to structures to facilitate a regular inspection and maintenance.
This work is expected to take between 12 and 18 months, but it will not make the building ready for reuse or public access. And there is no guarantee the council will have ownership of the market at the end of the work.
The market was built early in the last century by the Guinness family to house street traders who had been displaced by the construction of the nearby Iveagh Trust housing development on Patrick Street and was handed over in trust to Dublin Corporation.
By the 1980s the building had become very run-down and eventually closed in the 1990s. In 1996, the council announced it was seeking a private developer to regenerate the market. The following year Temple Bar hotelier Martin Keane secured the tender, with an agreement that the title of the market would transfer to him once the redevelopment was completed.
However, the development became mired in an ownership row between the corporation and the Guinness family-controlled Iveagh Trust. The dispute was not resolved until 2004. Mr Keane applied for planning permission, which was granted by An Bord Pleanála in 2007, but before he could act on it the recession hit.
In 2012, he secured a five-year extension of planning permission, which expired in 2017 without any development progressing. That year the council voted to take back control of the market from Mr Keane.
Court proceedings are ongoing. Mr Keane did not respond to queries.
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