A row of derelict Victorian cottages in Ranelagh, south Dublin, that partially collapsed last week have now been demolished. They were owned by the Construction Industry Federation (CIF).
The roof of one property along the five-house terrace, which faced the canal close to Ranelagh Road, collapsed on May 12th, propelling the front wall out into the path and road. The houses were located at 2-6 Dunville Terrace.
The row of houses, dating from the late 19th century, had been on Dublin City Council’s Derelict Sites Register since June, 2023. It emerged last week the construction lobby group, which had owned the row of houses since the 1990s, had failed to pay more than €140,000 in derelict site levies it owed to the council. The CIF had earlier secured an agreement to sell the derelict houses to a developer as part of a deal on a wider site worth €23 million.
An inspector from the council’s Dangerous Buildings Section last week attended the site and directed the CIF to remove “all deleterious materials from the public footpath and roadway”, and to “make safe the remaining structures adjacent the highly trafficked roadway”.
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By last Friday, the mid-terrace house that collapsed had been demolished. The rest of the terrace has now been removed.
Four years ago, the CIF and the Construction Workers Pension Scheme agreed the sale of the adjoining sites to international property developer Osborne + Co, for a sum understood to be in the region of €23 million.
The sale was subject to Osborne securing planning permission for a redevelopment scheme. An application was made in October, 2022 by Rimor Fortis, an Osborne company, for the demolition of all buildings on-site, including the derelict terrace and another free-standing cottage used as a bike repair shop, and their replacement with an eight-storey office scheme. Planning permission was granted last September, but the sale had not completed ahead of the collapse of the cottage last week.
The collapse of the roof, which had become heavily overgrown with moss and ivy, happened just after 8am on Monday of last week. An eyewitness said debris was scattered over the cycle lane and into the road, narrowly missing a cyclist and a pedestrian walking their dog.
Until recently, the terrace was covered by a banner advertising a CIF construction safety campaign. The CIF said previous assessment of the buildings had determined they were “structurally safe”.
The CIF did not respond to queries in relation to its decision to fully demolish the terrace on Tuesday.
