Contractor ‘took the easy way out’ with Tipperary garda station project, says councillor
A contractor working on a major project in Tipperary has “taken the easy way out,” according to one local councillor, taking away the town’s public square for almost two years.
Concerns were raised by Fine Gael councillor Tom Acheson about the works on the new garda station for Clonmel, which officially got underway last month, at the January meeting of the Clonmel Borough District.
Cllr Acheson raised concerns about the hoarding that has been erected around the site on Kickham Plaza in Clonmel, saying that the plaza will now be out of use for over two years while the long-awaited garda station is built.
"I have a question specifically about the hoarding that has been put up to protect the canopy at Kickham Plaza, it takes the canopy out of action for possibly two years, and it looks to be overkill,” he said.
"I’m not an engineer, and I’m not a building expert, but the hoarding is on the south side of the canopy, and I respectfully suggest that the hoarding should be on the north side of the canopy, and the canopy should be in full use, because it takes away the best part of the one of the most attractive parts of Kickham Plaza.
"I think there could be other solutions and I think this is just a very easy way for them because I can’t see the benefit in it. It doesn’t protect the canopy within the building site. I don’t think it’s reasonable that we should do without the canopy for two years,” Cllr Acheson said.
In response, the administrator for the district said that it was likely that the hoarding was needed to protect the health and safety of both the workers, and people using Kickham Plaza.
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"It’s probably from a health and safety perspective, I don’t know the exact details of the distance and everything in relation to the construction within the site, but I know it’s required to have the hoarding that distance from where the construction is taking place,” she explained.
Another representative from the council explained that there was a lot of work due to happen on that side of the hoarding, and that the specifics of how the contractor carries out the works isn’t for the council to comment on.
"The ins and outs of how that contractor does the work for the Office of Public Works (OPW) isn’t for us to comment on, but in saying that, there would be a requirement for hoarding, there will be a retaining wall going in there and there will be a working space and a scaffolding going in there eventually.
"There would be a protection from the public point of view, there would always be a working space allowed in any construction site, there is a nice bit of work to go on at that side of the hoarding,” councillors were told.
In response, Cllr Acheson said it was hard to see why the hoarding was erected where it is, and suggested that the contractors had taken the easy way out.
"It’s very hard to see why the hoarding couldn’t go on the north side of the canopy to keep people out. Every scaffolding you see in the city has people walking right beside it, there are protection mechanisms for people around scaffolding. I think the project manager down there, with all due respect to him, has probably taken a relatively easy way out,” he said.
"Maybe I’m speaking out of turn, maybe there was proper reason, and if I am speaking out of turn, I apologise,” Cllr Acheson added.
Despite the Fine Gael councillor’s concerns, the district administrator said that there are always other ways of holding events on the plaza, and that it will still be usable while the project is underway.
"I deal with events and festivals as well, and there are always solutions and other alternative ways of actually placing the stages. The crowd area is not going to be affected by this at all, and I have spoken to all the events groups well in advance of this.
"We asked for the hoarding not to go up before Christmas so we could hold our Christmas events, and I was looking to see during the events how it was even used and there was usage of it, but just as easily we could use another staged area or the opposite side of the plaza. The entire plaza is not going to be affected.
"People can still hang out down on the plaza, and the seating area that’s there, that’s not being touched either,” she added.
Councillors at the meeting resolved to write to the contractors on the project to find out why they placed the hoarding in the location they did.