A research initiative being undertaken jointly through Queen’s University Belfast and Cardiff University is contrasting stakeholder perceptions of planning in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and Wales. It is designed to explore the role and extent of stakeholder engagement with the planning systems; views of the planning systems in relation to the public interest and other issues; changes in perceptions, based on a survey of a comparable stakeholder population in Northern Ireland, carried out in 2011; perceived relationships between various stakeholders; and priorities for reform or change.

The research is based on a major online survey of individuals to represent those citizens and public, private and voluntary sector interests with direct involvement with the planning systems. This survey will be live from the end of June until 30 September 2019 and members and supporters of the Irish Georgian Society have been invited to participate in this. The survey can be accessed at https://bit.ly/31JW4IK and further information is available here.

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The rejuvenation of North Great George’s Street, one of the principal streets of Georgian Dublin, into a living, breathing street is celebrated in this exhibition. The exhibition was organised by the members of the North Great George’s Street Preservation Society, (NGGSPS), which this year is celebrating 40 years since its foundation. Each member has played their individual part in restoring the street and its houses to their former glory.

North Great George’s Street was originally built as town houses for the gentry between the middle and end of the 18^th century. The Act of Union in 1801 quickly marked its decline when the gentry moved to London. The street then became home largely to the medical and legal professions, but it went into massive decline in the early part of the 20^th century in poverty ridden Dublin as many of the houses were turned into tenements.

In the early 1970’s, a far-seeing group of individuals bought houses (some still occupied by tenants at the time) that were often in an advanced state of dereliction. Over the years, these owners have painstakingly refurbished the houses and turned them into homes. The NGGSPS, supported by the North Great George’s Street Residents Association, has played a vital role in the conservation of the architectural fabric of the buildings. All this work on the individual homes has been painstakingly carried out at each owner’s expense and restored to meet the highest standards of the houses as they were first built.

The Preservation Society was founded in 1979 by Senator David Norris, Harold Clarke and Desiree Short and other home owners of the street made up the members, including the Loreto Order and Belvedere College. It, together with the North Great George’s Street Residents Association, has worked closely with Dublin City Council, the Georgian Society and the An Taisce to ensure the preservation of the street.

Chairman of NGGSPS, Tom McKeown said: “While all the original houses are ‘protected structures’, there are still huge risks in the form of over-development of the houses themselves and the mews lanes surrounding them. In order to reduce these risks, the NGGSPS is working closely with Dublin City Council to have the area designated an Architectural Conservation Area. This would offer an increased level of protection to the street and highlight the still existing need to improve the sadly neglected public domain including pavements, railings and facades”.

Vice President of The Georgian Society, Camille McAleese added: “When the wonderful, gorgeous Dublin city was crumbling or in a perilous state, North Great Georges Street was one of unique architectural merit where a growing number of private householders had already demonstrated a public-spirited concern. Their aim was to conserve their homes in North Great Georges Street for their own enjoyment and that of fellow citizens and future generations. It is imperative that NGGPS receives full support from all the relevant organisations to support their laudable work” she added.

North Great Georges Street is one of Dublin’s most beautiful and intact Georgian Streets. It is the challenge of the present generation who started the vision to bring the street back to its former glory and to continue the work to ensure the street will be enjoyed for many generations to come.

1 to 7 July 2019
Daniel O'Connell Room, City Assembly House, 58 South William Street, Dublin 2

Exhibition opening hours:
Monday 1 July to Saturday 6 July, 10am—6pm
Sunday 7 July, 12pm—6pm

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The Office of Public Works (OPW) has re-opened Doneraile Court, Co. Cork, following a major refurbishment program. Hundreds of people queued up for the official reopening on Saturday 22 June to see inside a house that has been closed for some 25 years. The IGS has lent a number of artworks and items of furniture, some of which were donated during the 1970s and 80s when the Society was restoring the house. Well done to all involved!

Read more: RTE & Irish Examiner

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Irish Georgian Society staff and volunteers at the Kildare Heritage Buildings Show at Castletown House: Executive Director Donough Cahill; IGS volunteer Tatiana Smith-St Kitts; Programmes and Communications Coordinator, Zoë Coleman; Kildare County Council Heritage Officer Bridget Loughlin; Assistant Director and Conservation Manager Emmeline Henderson, OPW Minister Kevin 'Boxer' Moran; IGS Membership and Events Coordinator Róisín Lambe

Pictured at the launch of the Kildare Heritage Buildings Show at Castletown House on 15 June: Bridget Loughlin, Heritage Officer KCC; Emmeline Henderson, IGS Assistant Director & Conservation Manager, IGS; Councillor Michael Coleman, Kildare County Council; Donough Cahill, IGS Executive Director; Cathaoirleach Suzanne Doyle, Kildare County Council; Peter Black, Architectural Conservation Officer, Kildare County Council; Camilla McAleese, IGS Vice President; Councillor Venessa Liston; OPW Minister Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran; John Cahill, OPW Assistant Principal Architect; Michael Wall, IGS Chairperson; and Jacqui Donnelly, Senior Architect, Department of Culture Heritage and the Gaeltacht.

Conor Deasey of Old Chairs & the Irish Horological Craft Forum & OPW Minister Moran

OPW Minister Moran with Ruth Bothwell gilding and artefact conservator

OPW Minister Moran with the OPW Furniture Division

IGS Vice President Camilla McAleese with OPW Minister Moran visiting the OPW decorative plaster workshop stand

IGS Executive Director Donough Cahill, OPW Minister Moran & Kildare County Council Cathaoirleach Suzanne Doyle

Stone waller Jason Barcoe of the Dry Stone Wall Association of Ireland with OPW Minister Moran

Thatcher Joe Leonard with OPW Minister Moran

OPW Minister Moran & Bridget Loughlin, Heritage Officer, Kildare County Council

OPW Minister Moran with IGS Vice President Camilla McAleese, and George Biros and Chris Nolan of Nolan's Group examining an example of brick pointing

OPW Minister Moran with James Grace of Grace Architectural Wood Design

OPW Minister Moran with Liam McCorkell of Glassshaus Studio

Kildare’s Heritage Buildings Show: a weekend of traditional building skills demonstrations, conservation talks and children’s craft workshops

Some photographs of the Irish Georgian Society, Kildare County Council and Office of Public Works exhibition which took place in the farmyard of the OPW’s Castletown.

The event was made possible due to the support of Kildare County Council, the Office of Public Works and Creative Ireland.

OPW Minister Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran officially launched exhibition on Saturday 15th June 2015, with Kildare County Council Cathaoirleach Suzanne Doyle and Irish Georgian Society Vice-President Camilla McAleese welcoming him the county and exhibition respectively.

Established in 1999, the annual exhibition promotes the need for and availability of traditional building skills in the conservation and care of historic building and provides an opportunity to view some of Ireland’s finest conservation craftspeople demonstrate. The 2019 exhibition showcased sash window repairs, the use of lime-based mortars, decorative plasterwork, traditional ironwork, thatching, stained glass and fanlight conservation, stone carving, dry stonewall construction, soft capping and green wood turning.

This successful collaboration represented a coming together of all sectors of the conservation community, not just the Irish Georgian Society, the OPW, and Kildare County Council’s with their dynamic, Heritage Officer, Bridget Loughlin and Architectural Conservation Officer, Peter Black but also the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, The Heritage Council, the Castletown Foundation, the Dry Stone Wall Association of Ireland, SPAB Ireland, the Irish Horological Craft Forum, the Buildings Limes Forum Ireland, and the many wonderful independent traditional building skills professionals and practitioners who demonstrated at the exhibition and delivered lectures as part of the conservation seminar which ran in tandem with the exhibition.

Over the course of the two-days of the exhibition, 2,000 people attended. Castletown became a one-stop destination for people in need of free, accurate and impartial advice for the care and conservation of their historic buildings. The Society wishes to thank all those who made the show such a worthwhile endeavor.

(Photos by Peter Kwasu)

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In its submission to the government’s public consultation for a Climate Change Adaptation Sectoral Plan for Built & Archaeological Heritage, the IGS made the following recommendations:

• In order to fulfil the objective to “establish a baseline for heritage resources from which change can be measured”, the following actions are required:
  • Complete the National Landscape Character Map which is an objective of the National Landscape Strategy and the National Planning Framework.
  • Complete and, where necessary, review and update the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage and the Survey of Historic Gardens and Designed Landscapes.
  • Ensure that all relevant authorities with forward planning functions be adequately resourced with qualified conservation professionals.
• Funding for the Built Heritage Investment Scheme be increased to at least €3.5million p.a. in fulfilling the Plan’s objective to “develop grant schemes for preventive maintenance, sensitive adaptation and disaster recovery from climate impacts, supported by guidance documents”.
• In responding to the Plan’s recognition of a “need to develop a risk register”, there should be an objective to prepare a national Buildings at Risk Register to provide quantifiable data to assist in formulating policies and planned actions.

Read the IGS submission in full here.

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The Irish Georgian Society Review is richly illustrated with content on decorative arts, conservation, current affairs and Irish heritage issues. Published annually in October, it is distributed among our 2,500+ members across Ireland, the UK and USA. Taking out an advertisement in the IGS Review is an opportunity to promote your business to an interested target audience.

The Irish Georgian Society Review focuses on specialist topics relating to the work of the Irish Georgian Society, as well as including illustrated articles on architecture and the decorative arts, commissioned from academics and conservation professionals. The magazine is elegantly designed and you can read past issues of the IGS Review online (via this link) to get an idea of content and format.

The IGS Review is made available at various IGS events throughout the year (2019/20), such as our annual seminars, study days and the Dublin Horse Show, and all year round in our bookshop at the City Assembly House on South William Street.

Contact Zoë Coleman (zoe.coleman@igs.ie) for more details before Wednesday 31 July 2019.

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