The demolition of Dublin's Victorian fish market, to make way for the €400 million redevelopment of the markets area in the north west inner city, is to begin today.
The levelling of the the 19th century market, which ceased operating last April, is one of the first steps in Dublin City Council's regeneration plans for the area close to the Luas line between the Four Courts and Capel Street.
The site of the fish market, between Mary's Lane and Chancery Street next door to the Victorian fruit and vegetable market, is to be rebuilt as a commercial and residential complex reaching up to six storeys in height.
The buildings will form one side of an open public plaza and, the council hopes, will attract a new restaurant scene to the northside of the city. Two layers of underground parking will be built under the complex and the units above the commercial premises will provide a large number of the 600 apartments planned for the area.
While the council has committed to preserving the fruit and vegetable market, restoring many of its external Victorian features and redeveloping it internally to increase its capacity for retail food sales, the fish market is to be fully demolished.
"It is a late 19th century structure, but it wasn't ever considered to have any decorative features of merit, and it certainly doesn't have the decorative features of the fruit and vegetable market," Martin Kavanagh of the council's development department said.
The traders who once occupied the fish market have been relocated to a site in the Fingal industrial estate, which Mr Kavanagh says had become necessary in order to comply with health and safety regulations.
"We couldn't get the building up to the standards required by the Food Safety Authority, in terms of having walls you could wash down etc . . . so we required a new building."
The demolition work is scheduled for completion within six week. The first two weeks will largely involve preparation of the site, the building, which is a mostly steel structure, will be taken apart during the middle two weeks, while the last two weeks will be spent clearing the site. The council will then seek expressions of interest for the redevelopment of the site.
The council hopes disruption will be kept to a minimum during the demolition work. Problems caused by dispersed dust should be minimal because there is very little brick in the building; there is some asbestos in the roof, however the demolition company, Barnmore, is a qualified asbestos contractor, Mr Kavanagh said.
Traffic disruption is likely to be the principal problem and will affect deliveries to the fruit and vegetable market.
A spokesman for the fruit traders said they had been notified the demolition would be going ahead but had yet to have discussions with the council regarding its impact on their business.
