Mayo Council building 'most outdated in the country'

Mayo County Council's headquarters, Áras an Chontae, is set to undergo significant renovation works this summer, with plans for energy efficiency upgrades, fire safety improvements, and a complete redesign of the council chamber and foyer.

Julianne Gavin, Head of Property, Organisational Change and Internal Audit ay Mayo County Council, confirmed that the building will see comprehensive energy efficiency works, likely commencing during the summer months. These improvements will be carried out alongside a fire safety remediation project addressing areas of the 1990s building that need to be brought in line with modern legislation.

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"There's some small areas of fire safety that have to be upgraded in the building," Gavin explained. "The building is old to bring it in line with modern legislation or current legislation."

The works will be coordinated with the Pathfinder project, while Gavin's team manages the main council chamber and foyer redesign. Designers have been tendered for and awarded, with the project currently in a standstill period before design work intensifies in the coming months.

'Outdated'
Councillor Damien Ryan defended the scale of the planned works, noting that the Castlebar building has fallen behind other local authority headquarters nationwide.

"I've been in the other 30 local authorities' premier buildings in the country, and with the exception of none, ours is now the most outdated," Ryan said. "It was built in 1990, it certainly does need that facelift."

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Ryan emphasized that the project extends beyond mere aesthetics, describing the building as a crucial focal point for civic reception. He dismissed concerns about costs, pointing to comparable developments in smaller councils.

"We only have to look at what Roscommon has done and the state of the art building that they have, and they're a far smaller council than us, with 18 members," he added.

Accessibility issues
Councillor John Caulfield welcomed the development, highlighting serious accessibility issues with the current building that contravene public building standards.

"The reality of it is this building, as a public building, is not accessible to all, and it breaks regulations," Caulfield stated. "It's not accessible, with the various steps even to get on to the platform. If there was somebody elected to go up there, it's not accessible."

The planned works represent a significant investment in Mayo's civic infrastructure, addressing both regulatory compliance and the need for a modern facility befitting the county's administrative headquarters.
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme