Carrick-on-Suir’s revamped Town Hall on track to re-open before Christmas

Council officials expect to re-open Carrick-on-Suir's expanded and refurbished Town Hall to staff and the public before Christmas. 

Carrick-on-Suir Municipal District Director Pat Slattery told The Nationalist the Council was between six and eight weeks away from finishing the major revamp of the Town Hall that began in May, 2017. 

He said the €2.4m contract will finish on time and within budget. The Council is incurring some extra costs because it has decided to do some additional works including refurbishment works like replastering and painting to some neighbouring buildings on New Street. 

Mr Slattery said the refurbishment of the Town Hall's interior is nearly complete. The remaining works to be carried out are the creation of a plaza in front of the civic building, including traffic calming measures, the restoration of railings and installation of digital fibre connections. 

He said the plaza will comprise a raised area on the street directly outside the Town Hall that will enable wheelchair users to travel on a completely level surface from New Street Car Park across the street to  the civic offices. 

Mr Slattery anticipates New Street will have to close to traffic for about a day while work on the plaza and traffic calming scheme is underway. 

In relation to the refurbishment works planned for neighbouring properties, Mr Slattery said the Council has discussed and agreed the  works that will be carried out on these properties with their owners. "We are doing it because we want the street to look well and because they (the neighbour property owners) are such good neighbours. 

The new look Town Hall will be double the size of the original building. It includes a three-storey extension to the side and rear and major changes to its internal layout. 

One of the key goals of the project has been to upgrade the building to meet disability access standards and also make it more suitable and user friendly for both staff and the public.