Grant of €10,000 awarded to tackle vacancy in Tipperary Town

A Tipperary Town centre regeneration project has been selected to be part of the Irish Architecture Foundation’s (IAF) Reimagine Hometown Architect initiative, a programme that focuses on the revitalisation of Ireland’s towns and villages and comes with the support of €10,000 per project.

The programme connects architects with community organisations to reimagine aspects of their built environment, and the Tipperary project is led by the Tipperary Town Revitalisation Task Force, working with James Bourke Architects.

The Tipperary Town project is one of five around the country selected by a panel of experts following an open call that invited community groups and an architect who has a connection to their town or village to partner on and submit a regeneration project proposal that aligns with the Government of Ireland’s Town Centre First Policy.

This policy aims to promote the regeneration of town and village centres across Ireland and to create town centres that function as viable, vibrant and attractive locations for people to live, work and visit.

This project builds on the previous work of the Tipperary Town Revitalisation Task Force, which, through the Heritage Council’s Collaborative Town Centre Health Check Programme (CTCHC), established that there are 84 empty buildings in Tipperary town centre, a 31.2% retail vacancy rate and an 18.6% total vacancy rate.

This is the highest figure within The Heritage Council's CTCHC Programme, and it is having a detrimental impact on Tipperary town centre, the project team said.

In a new initiative by the Tipperary Town Revitalisation Task Force, the IAF Reimagine Hometown Architect project team will work with the owners of vacant buildings to develop solutions and a high-level masterplan for selected properties.

Michael Begley of the Tipperary Town Revitalisation Task Force said: "The Reimagine Hometown Architect project will build on the success of the Tipperary Town CTCHC Vacancy Workshop in 2022 and will be a key enabler in the efforts to bring vacant buildings in Tipperary town back to life with a new purpose.

"We look forward to working with the Irish Architecture Foundation and the community in Tipperary town on this initiative and are excited to see what emerges from the process".