Is Tullamore's townscape threatened asks leading architect

In particular its impact on the townscape of the town was deemed injurious.

As this is the first time that Offaly County Council has regarded the protection of the townscape of Tullamore as a consideration in the assessment of a major redevelopment project, it begs the question of whether Tullamore has any townscape worth protecting in the first instance.

Tullamore’s Townscape

Of course Tullamore has a marvellous townscape which is concentrated in two distinct areas:

-The early town spreading southwards from the river crossing up High Street and into Cormac Street and O’Moore Street.

-The ‘New Town’ north of the river with its gridded streets and the continuous frontages of Church Street and O’Carroll Street

However, the actual extent of these areas is debatable- as is their quality. O’Connor Square is obviously the jewel in the crown and O’Moore Street is elegant but are other minor streets equally worthy and how is that to be determined? In particular are the townscapes of Colmcille Street and Harbour Street of value?

An early indicator of how townscape would be a future issue was the observation sixteen years ago by the Inspector of An Bord Pleanala in response to a large commercial application on the very same site of the Distillery Yard proposal. He believed that it:

‘bears no relationship to the existing streetscape of Colmcille Street or to the overall townscape in terms of scale and urban grain. I cannot discern any attempt of the designer to interpret the strong and relatively intact characteristics of Tullamore town centre in any way, modern or otherwise’.

That suggested that the Council should identify what constituted the townscape of Tullamore and how it might be protected before any further major applications were proposed.

The Distillery Yard

The layout of this proposal for 204 apartments and 2,500 sq. metres of commercial space was considered acceptable but its density was deemed to be excessive and its thirteen storey tower intrusive.

The Heritage Council and the Irish Georgian Society urged rejection on the grounds of adverse visual impact on the 18th century townscape and skyline of the town but Stephen Little and Associates, the eminent town planning consultants representing the applicants, dismissed these concerns in a pithy paragraph:

‘The overall conclusion of that assessment can be summarised simply by stating that there will be elements of the proposals that will be visible from the surrounding area of the town, but that this does not give rise to a negative impact’.

This was also the view of Tullamore Chamber of Commerce who wholeheartedly supported the scheme.

Yet the application was rejected for six reasons, the second of which stated:

‘It is considered that the proposed development would, due to its excessive scale, height and mass appear visually incongruous on the skyline when viewed from Patrick Street, Columcille Street, Harbour Street and Kilbride Street and would be visually obtrusive on the skyline when viewed from High Street and along the Grand Canal…..

…..The proposed development would be visually overbearing and an incongruous addition to the streetscape ….and it is therefore deemed to be contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area.’

A Way Forward

So- does Tullamore really have notable townscapes or skylines and if so how should they be protected? Not only has no study been undertaken to determine this but Tullamore is unique in being the only county town in Ireland which does not regard even one of its streets and squares to be worthy of designation as an Architectural Conservation Area.

It must now be clear that an objective examination of the urban character of Tullamore which will set out measures for its protection is urgent. Had one been available, it might have either supported or avoided the Distillery Yard proposal and saved time and cost.

Tullamore Urban Regeneration Framework Plan

In order to identify useful projects which would attract Government funding, in November 2022 the Council commissioned two leading planning and urban design firms to provide a new vision for Tullamore. This would deliver a plan for public realm improvements and identify renewal opportunities for future integrated urban developments. Hopefully an evaluation of the townscape and skyline of Tullamore will be an element of this study and when it arrives it can facilitate the delivery of much needed redevelopments such as Distillery Yard and the Grand Canal Harbour.

Originally scheduled for completion in 2023, its long delayed publication is now urgently awaited.