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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Marking the 30th year of its prestigious architecture awards, the RIAI announced 23 Award Winners across 14 categories, including Adaption & Re-Use, Culture or Public Building, International, Learning, Living (Homes), Public Space, Well-Being and Workplace. All of the projects on the shortlist have been designed by RIAI-registered architects, based in Ireland and overseas, and were completed in 2018.

City Assembly House won an RIAI award in the Adaptation and Re-use: Conservation category. The building architects were Consarc Design Group Ltd.

Carole Pollard, FRIAI, Chair of the Jury said: “The standard of entries was very high this year. The jury have been visiting the shortlisted projects throughout the country and had a challenging task. The shortlist was made up of exceptional projects including residential homes, commercial spaces, schools, heritage locations and public spaces and it’s encouraging that Irish people recognise the value that Irish architects add to all aspects of the built environment, supporting Ireland’s educational, economic and social infrastructure.”

The Jury for the RIAI Irish Architecture Awards 2019 were: Carole Pollard, FRIAI, Chair; Eamonn O’Reilly, CEO Dublin Port, distinguished guest juror; and Architects Alice Casey, MRIAI; Peter Carroll, MRIAI; Aishling Joyce, MRIAI; Dermot McCabe, MRIAI; Peter McGovern, MRIAI; John O’Mahony, FRIAI; Lenzie O’Sullivan, MRIAI.

Read the full list of winners on the RIAI website.

(Image of CAH: Nicola Woods)

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Saturday 15 June: 1pm

Pattern & Print: David Skinner, Ireland’s leading traditional wallpaper maker, conservator and historian will teach you how to make traditional hand block wallpaper and use it to cover a note book, which you can take home with you at the end of the workshop. (6 to 12 years)

Saturday 15 June: 3pm

Lime & Learn: Join Edward Byrne of the Traditional Lime Company, use a trowel and hawk and learn about the unique properties of lime and why it is best for old buildings. Enjoy the opportunity to mix lime and wet dash a wall, the traditional way. (12 to 18 years)

Sunday 16 June: 1pm

Gold & Gild: inspired by Castletown’s splendour, the international historic decorative interiors and materials conservation, Ruth Decowell will guide young hands in the decoration of frames. By applying Dutch gold leaf, each child can embellish their own frame to take home. (6 to 12 years).

Sunday 16 June: 3pm

Create & Carve: make your mark in stone with sculptor and mason, Philip Quinn of Stonemad. You will be able to inscribe your initials in stone and bring it away with you at the end of the workshop. (7 to 18 years)

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