30/04/2008 -

Huge Interest in Heritage Owners Day

More than 100 people attended ‘Safe and Sound’ - an information day for owners of heritage buildings, which was held on the 25th April 2008 in the Sligo Park Hotel, Sligo.  The audience reflected the diverse range of interests in built heritage in the county, from owners, developers, planning agents, estate agents, and local authority staff to elected members and interested individuals. The seminar was a joint initiative between the Heritage Office, Planning Section and Architects Department of Sligo Local Authorities and was co-funded by Sligo Local Authorities and The Heritage Council.

Opening the seminar, the Cathaoirleach of Sligo County Council, Cllr. Seamus Kilgannon, welcomed the owners and custodians of Sligo’s built heritage and outlined that the seminar had been specially developed to provide information on the most common queries that are received by Sligo Local Authorities from owners of heritage buildings. 

The seminar was developed to provide information and the topics covered reflected the most common queries that are received by Sligo Local Authorities from owners of heritage buildings.  Questions like, How do I find out if my building is listed? Where can I find advice on how to repair my building? Where can I find a builder and craftspeople to carry out work on my old house? Are there any sources of funding for restoring old buildings? 

Guest speakers on the day were, Willy Cumming, Senior Architect with the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage with the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government,  Gráinne Shaffrey of Shaffrey Associated Architects,  Siobhán Ryan, Heritage Officer with Sligo County Council,  Pat McAfee a Master Stonemason with FAS,  Jacqui Donnelly, Conservation Architect with the Architectural Heritage Advisory Unit with the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government,  Colm Murray, Architecture Officer with The Heritage Council,  John Dorman of Dorman Architects and Gerry Healy of Kevinsfort Ltd.

Heritage building, protected structure, church, courthouse, gate lodge or farmhouse, no matter what category you ascribe a building to, the most important factor and one which ensures that a building has and continues to have a function, is that it is a home.  A home in the broadest sense of the word, be it a family, public authority, congregation or community group. 

Our built heritage is one of our most important cultural assets. Buildings are layers of history expressed in brick, plaster, wood, metal, glass and stone.  Whether in an urban or rural context, the nature and variety of our built heritage brings texture, grain and colour to our county, its landscape and streetscapes.  That richness is the result of local materials and human endeavour.

Topics discussed on the day included, the poor availability of conservation expertise and materials, the lack of guidance for owners of heritage buildings in relation to the new Building Energy Rating certification, the limited time scale available to carry out grant aided conservation works to historic houses (effectively from April to November) which is now further complicated by the need to secure a licence and plan for mitigation to carry out roof works if there are bats present in the roof.  Throughout the day the importance of professional conservation advice was highlighted on many occasions.

The seminar presentations are now available to view and download from the Heritage Section of the Sligo County Council website under ‘News and Events’  (www.sligococo/services/heritage).  In this way it is hoped that the information delivered on the day will be available to as wide an audience as possible.

For further information contact:
Siobhán Ryan, Heritage Officer, Sligo County Council, Riverside, Sligo. 
Telephone:  071-9111226/255 or by Email:  heritage@sligococo.ie.