Masterplan for future of Mayo town's showpiece evoking debate
A masterplan for the future of the Mall, Castlebar, is attracting a great deal of attention since the public consulation progress was opened by Mayo County Council.
Prepared by Taylor McCarney Architects, the proposal makes a number of interesting observations under a number of headlines that are evoking much local debate.
The following is a summary of a number of the key points of the study:
TOWN CONNECTIVITY
The Green has become somewhat detached from the migrated town commercial centre and detached from the Military Barracks.
Pedestrian links across Ellison Street are indirect and do not relate to the Greens established entry points at each end of the Mall.
The Mall and Green serve a local function rather than a wider urban function within the towns context
TRAFFIC IMPACT
The Green is bounded on three of its sides by traffic and the Mall is terminated by roads, disconnecting it from Christ Church and Rock Square.
The surrounding roads and parking create a clash between pedestrian and vehicle.
The traffic impact has resulted in a dissolving of the historical context and has produced a lack of identity for this area within the town.
KEY OPPORTUNITIES
The opportunities arising from the functional requirements for this urban regeneration project relate to achieving success on three fronts:
• Design - conducting an inclusive approach to provide a mutli purpose public urban space to Castlebar with clear connectivity with the surrounding streetscape, via open discussion and consultation with the various local community groups.
• Conservation - identifying the key considerations relating to providing a functional public space within this historic zone, that achieves its potential to re-engaging with and elevate the adjacent key historic structures.
• Functionality - establishing a coherent public realm design that can safely maintain and expand on many of the current uses on this site without compromising the natural features to ensure that the community remain engaged and ensure the sustainability and biodiversity of this key element of Castlebar into the future.
Castlebar contains a series of public parks that provide a wide realm of experiences for the local community but with the Green none provide an urban space that adequately caters for a variety of com munity uses.
The extents of grassed area within the Green provides for some of the required community uses but unfortunately can suffer damage when extended to incompatible uses.
The intention is to strike a perfect balance between green biodi versity areas and an urban surface that will be robust enough to cater for additional community purposes and provide a heart to Castlebar's urban regeneration project
STRATEGIC PRIORITIES
• A cohesive series of communal zones fit for a variety of purposes and users.
• A functional and adaptive series of usable zones.
• A user friendly set of zones for all ages, all mobilities.
• A welcoming and accessible series of gathering zones.
• A welcoming collection area for all of the community.
STRATEGIC DELIVERIES:
• Reinstate the Mall to its former status and re-establish it as a key pedestrian thoroughfare in the town.
• Integrate all zones within the immediate vicinity within a cohesive layout strategy - Rock Square, Imperial Hotel, Courthouse, 1798 monument.
• Rationalise the level changes at Rock Square.
• Accentuate the existing tree lined boulevard.
• Provide a new accessible urban square adjacent to the Methodist Church and Imperial Hotel to activate this space and encourage its use as a public communal active space.
• Provide a scheme that fosters and strengthens the community and supports the long term economic and social development of Castlebar.
WHAT WE SEEK TO ACHIEVE (AIMS):
• Restore this public space to return it to its former significance within Castlebar and provide an urban heart for the town
• Reinstate the key elements of existing historic layout within a contemporary approach to provide Castlebar with a functional modern usable urban space.
• Accentuate the key existing features of the existing Mall.
• Sympathetically provide interventions to the existing building to erode the institutional feeling and accentuate the structures innate beauty and strength.
• To create a network of spaces and enhance biodiversity and climate resilience in the area.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT
Based on the community’s feedback, as well as the identified policy and design constraints, the design proposal will be development into a masterplan proposal and this will be refined and finalised for a subsequent round of public consultation through a Part 8 planning process planned for early next year.
* Published under the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.