On Wednesday January 14 last, Waterford City and County Council held a public consultation meeting in Portlaw Library.
The Portlaw renovation project began in 2022 with the Town Centre Plan, and this work resulted in an award of €1,000,000 in Category 2 funding in October 2024. These funds allowed for land to be precured and teams of architects and landscape architects to be engaged to provide a community centred and historically informed plan to modernise Waterford’s model town.
The design team combined architects from Hall Black Douglas and landscape architects from the Paul Hogarth Company. Some members of the team travelled to the regeneration meeting from Belfast to discuss their designs and vision with the local community. The consultation saw drawings and concept images of the main changes envisioned for the town. The first of these will be turning the courthouse into a community centre; in time, parts of the town square will also be pedestrianised to promote social and economic engagement.
As the concept sheet at the event explained: “The need for a multifunctional community facility was identified as top priority in the Town Centre First Plan, as local residents lack a quality indoor space to gather, meet and hold events and activities”.
“Given its historic significance and prime location within Portlaw Town Centre, the former Courthouse/School building and the surrounding area of underdeveloped land has been identified as the most appropriate location.
“The building will provide a large flexible space with a stage for a range of community uses, along with supporting infrastructure. In addition, the restoration of this historic building, the project will also include a restored market square and, in the future, new town centre housing.”
The response
As public consultations go it was a very well attended event, and the local reaction was almost universally positive.
“It’s fantastic to see some investment,” said Mick Brown, Portlaw resident. “Clearly a lot of work has gone into the planning.”
Assumpta Phelan added her agreement. “I’m looking forward to seeing it,” she said. You don’t want to stop progress, no matter what. You might get a few come out against it, but I have no concerns at all, I am delighted to see it happen.
“I met people during the summer asking where they might get a cup of tea and there was no place for them. If it’s better for the place then great.”
A few concerns were raised by residents who did not want to be named.
One attendee commented: “This is an agricultural town too. You have tractors and machinery coming up the road. The Council seem to be narrowing everything, so that is a concern I would have. How are they going to manage if everything is narrowed?”
Another resident raised an issue explaining that, more than anything else, Portlaw residents wanted a full-sized sports hall, which was not reflected in these plans.
Derrick O’Neil, local resident, asked that a clubhouse be developed so that the young people of the area might have a pool table and social club without having to walk the streets or spend all their time in the local pub.
Independent Councillor Declan Clune, who has been involved in the project since the beginning as part of the Town Team, spoke to The Munster Express at the event: “I’m very excited about all of this”.
“We want to get the maximum out of it now so it doesn’t just suit any one group in particular but all groups be they GAA, Soccer, Music, Scouts,” he said.
“The local community filled out a document to tell us their vision. Of course, no plan is ever going to accommodate everyone 100% but we want to get as much as we can for the constituent groups.
“There is huge experience in the consultation group, it was a close call, there was a lot of strong applications made to take on this project, but their experience is what decided it for them in the end,” Cllr. Clune added.
Former Senator and Fine Gael TD, Paudie Coffey, is also part of the Town Team, and he explained that the town’s unique design had once led residents to flow from its straight streets into the factory near the town centre. Mr. Coffey is Chair of the Portlaw Community Enhancement Group, and he emphasised the main issue was to increase footfall in the town square while also allowing traffic to pass through smoothly.
He also paid tribute to fellow Enhancement Group leader, Fred Kelly, who has recently developed new woodland trails for Portlaw and has a project submitted for planning which would see an outdoor classroom in the forest, so that local children can learn about biodiversity and nature in a woodland environment.
What comes next
Having travelled across the country for the event, James Hennessey, landscape architect with the Paul Hogarth Company, was encouraged by the engagement from the Portlaw residents.
“Change can be scary. Places like this haven’t changed in a long time, so we have to help people along. A big part of our job is managing change,” he said.
“We might consider ourselves experts in architecture or design but it is the local people that are experts in Portlaw.
“For us to do our job properly means getting alongside the community to understand the place and transparency is the only way.
“So often public consultation comes too late in the process. Or consultations happen but they don’t give the people who turn up the opportunity to meaningfully impact the project.
Mr. Hennessey also explained that Portlaw was different to most towns their company would work to rejuvenate, because with Portlaw being a model town it actually has space to work with, with wide, straight roads and a central area for shops and other businesses in the town square. Mr. Hennessey explained that this is unusual as rejuvenation projects can often happen in old towns where all the buildings and streets are packed tight and narrow, leaving designers like himself little space to play with.
The next step for the Portlaw rejuvenation project is to apply for Category 1 funding which can finance the actual construction of these designs. To do this a planning application must first be made, which will allow formal submissions from the public.
The design team hope to ‘turn the sod’ on this project by mid-2027.
AARON KENT
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme
