Sligo Town Hall - Exterior

Sligo Town Hall:

1997 - 2000 / Project Cost: €3.7m. / Client: Sligo Corporation

In 1997 Gilroy McMahon was appointed by Sligo Corporation to carry out a major refurbishment and upgrade of Sligo Town Hall, a 19th Century listed structure. Many of these buildings are devoid of basic environmental requirements yet the provision of these requirements has the potential to destroy the original quality of an historic building. The works included repairs and restoration of stone work, building a new annex to house circulation and amenities, and recycling of additional space for staff accommodation.

The brief called for a renewal of essential services including fire evacuation, toilet accommodation, access for disabled persons, additional staff accommodation and

provision of contemporary workbase technology. This is particularly relevant to the remanipulation of existing buildings and is not always easily achieved.

A decision was made to remove the elements which had most potential to destroy the spatial quality of the Town Hall, and to create an annex to the building to house these elements. Fire staircases, lift and toilet accommodation were housed in a new three storey building avoiding massive structural and spatial interference. This concept also decreased the contract time by avoiding the inevitable restrictions massive internal intervention would have created. It also had the effect of freeing up additional area in the building which was recycled for staff accommodation and it also enabled external stone cleaning to proceed without restriction.