Renovation work underway on historic building in Offaly

Renovation work is currently underway on the much-loved Fiesta Hall in Kilcormac.

It is hoped that the project will be completed by the end of the year with the cost set to run to €1.8 million.

Brendan O'Loughlin, CEO of Offaly Local Development Company said that they recently applied for extra funding and received it and are on target to open the Hall in early 2024.

Roisin Lennon, Rural Development Team Leader of OLDC, is a Director of Green Offaly, the company which will be moving into the Hall once it is refurbished.

The first stage of the work was enabling works which included some necessary exposing work in order to allow the contractor to gain an accurate picture of what he was dealing with and therefore to provide accurate costs.

Brendan said the principal structure of the Hall is in good condition and is therefore being retained. A small amount of demolition work, the demolition of a little annex on the north side is required because it is in a very bad condition. The contractor will re-roof the Hall.

“All building work will be completed before the end of the year,” added Brendan, “and Green Offaly will be able to move in in early 2024.”

The project has received Just Transition funding.

Fiesta Hall is a large space and it's planned to completely fill it with office space for Green Offaly, co-working space, and research space.

Offaly County Council granted planning permission for the Fiesta Hall project in May 2022, and the permission was for “the carrying out of works (building, demolition and alterations) to the existing Hall; the refurbishment making material changes of its use to an educational, training and employment resource as a Green HQ for County Offaly; venue for outdoor public events; two accessible car parking spaces and e-charging point in the existing parking area."

The historic Fiesta Ballroom will be renovated in alignment with green building principles and powered by renewable energy.

The Design Team appointed for the project were Gaia Ecotecture (an ecological architectural firm with offices in Cork, Dublin the UK and Cloughjordan).

The hall is to become "a Green Enterprise hub and Climate Action Centre, with a lecture theatre, conference facilities and fixed and remote working space".

When completed, the new facility will be used to "deliver training, education and research programmes in green skills, sustainability, climate change and community regeneration. Community and visitor facilities will include a coffee house, dance space, workshops, events and exhibitions".

The Fiesta Ballroom was a cinema and dance hall in the 1960s. In more recent times it hosted bingo, drama and other community events, as well as regular district court sittings. The Hall has been out of use for about six years and is in reasonable condition.

OLDC says it's retaining a portion of the raked cinema seating for the purpose of creating a lecture/training room and four 'breakout' rooms.

A single storey new-build is planned to replace the single-storey section at the side of the hall, and this will include "sanitary facilities, three office spaces, and universal access".

The ground floor will be used as a multi-use social and community space which can host exhibitions and demonstrations. The foyer will be repurposed as a café, with capacity for additional outdoor seating to the front of the building.

Birr-based Thor Design and Management consultants carried out a structural report on the Hall in 2021 and said the building was originally constructed in the early part of the 20th century, and was then extended some years later.

"Overall, the building is typical for its period of construction,” said the Thor report, “but it will need significant work and money to upgrade it to an acceptable standard for any re-purposed use.”

The Hall is greatly valued by the local community and they are keenly looking forward to its transformation.