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A Planning Application has been lodged by Newry, Mourne and Down District Council for their proposed council offices/ civic hub on Abbey Way behind Newry Cathedral. It comes hot on the heals of a council application for the new Theatre at the Sean Hollywood Arts Centre and the same week as the CEO of the Southern Trust, Dr Maria O'Kane spoke of her delight of acquiring the existing Monaghan Row Council Offices "over the next number of weeks"
Works on the 0.77 hectare site will involve the demolition of the current multistorey car park and the building of a Civic Hub building accommodating council room, meeting rooms, council offices and associated ancillary accommodation. Associated public realm works will also be carried out on part of the existing surface car park.
*The proposed 4,660sqm development will comprise of Class B1 office space for NMDDC staff. It will have space for 215 Council staff as well as (50 additional staff) including workstations, personal and business storage, meeting rooms, IT hub, breakout space etc.
Public spaces will include reception, interview/meeting rooms, citizens advice etc. Civic spaces such as a wedding chamber and presentation room will also be available.
Newry has an abundance of parking
Currently 304 parking spaces exist at the location and when works are finished it is proposed that will be reduced to 138. A Transport Assessment report as part of the application documented traffic surveys in 2021 and 2022 and concludes that Newry has an abundance of parking "Newry Town Centre is served by an abundance of car parking, that exceeds the daily parking demands, regardless of whether reference is made to the June 2021, February 2022 or the June 2022 survey data."
A heritage statement states "The site comprises the context setting of two of Newry’s most historically important structures; the grade A listed Cathedral of St. Patrick and St. Colman dating from 1825, and Bagenal’s Castle, a scheduled monument dating from 1480. Despite this the character of the site is poor, characterised by the presence of the dual carriageway, the surface car park and the multi-storey decked parking structure."
It is proposed the Civic Hub building will be located on the site of the multi-decked car park, while the surface parking to the north of the building will be retained, together with some on-street parking.
Unique Contemporary Character
An architectural report explains that the Civic Hub will not be an imitation of earlier architectural styles but rather have its own unique and contemporary character, while respecting Georgian architecture of Newry City Centre.
The report states "The expressed colonnade to the front of the building with granite clad columns will define the entrance area. The colonnade continues along the North Elevation as an extension to Mill Street.
"A simple palette of materials is proposed - granite stone cladding, dark grey clay bricks and aluminium framed curtain walling. High quality granite material will define the ‘civic’ part of the building and will closely match the cathedral. A dark grey brick to the ‘council / private’ part of the building will be of similar tone and texture to match the stone buildings on Castle Street and St Colman’s Park. The sedum roofs to Abbey Way will create a buffer between the main volume of the building and the carriageway."
Drawings of the new development have not yet been loaded on to the planning portal but when they have we will share.
* We assume these lower figures are the correct ones. Another part of the same report (Transport Assesment) has the figures 5,680m2 with 287 Council staff.
