Renovation works on Ballast building in Wexford town to begin in next ‘six to eight weeks’

By Simon Bourke, Wexford People

Works to redevelop the old Ballast building in Wexford town are to commence in the next 6-8 weeks as the county council prepares to repurpose it as a district office. While renovations to the interior of the building are not yet scheduled, chief executive of Wexford County Council (WCC) Eddie Taaffe said the ambitious project to bring the property back into use was now underway.

“We are about to appoint a contractor to undertake the refurbishment works on the outside of the building; the roof, the windows, the slates on the side, and the plastering,” he said at the September meeting of the Wexford Borough District. “We have received a grant for 25 per cent of those works and will fund the rest ourselves. The cost to do the outside will be approximately €500,000. Those works will be starting in the next 6-8 weeks.”

However, Mr Taaffe said restoring the interior will be a more complex undertaking.

“There are significant internal works required, but it is feasible, subject to funding. We do want to bring the building back into use but it’s not wise to restore the inside without knowing what we’re going to use it for. But my own feeling on it is that it will be a fine building to use as the district office.”

This update was met with something akin to joy by councillors more attuned to delays and setbacks.

“This is great progress, well done,” said Councillor Biddy Walsh. “We’ve also been talking about a small museum in there too. Nothing is insurmountable if we all put our heads together.”

Keen to measure expectations ever so slightly, Mr Taaffe said the project would “realistically” take a couple of years to complete but that using it as a council office made sense given the Ballast’s iconic history. And Cllr Walsh was keen to ensure that history was maintained.

“Any works will have to be discussed with regards to preservation,” she said. “The window ledges on the outside were used to sharpen knives, you can still see the grooves in them. I’d hate to see them plastered over.”

“No way will we touch them,” assured Mr Taaffe. “What we could do is install an information board explaining their heritage.”