A community group in Kinsale has said the renovation of the town's public hall into a remote working and cooperative hub could deliver significant revenues and support the local economy but has criticised the local authority for delays in the building's refurbishment.

As part of the revival, Future Kinsale proposed plans to create a multi-use facility from the historic municipal building that overlooks the town, including a co-working space with meeting rooms and hot desking, an art space offering a 140-seat venue, a stage and an outdoor event space, as well as a food hub that would provide catering to the centre and a start-up food business mentorship programs.

The study, published by Future Kinsale and sponsored by Enterprise Ireland included surveys from over 650 local residents and an additional 650 visitors, concluding that “a combination of community cultural/arts space, local enterprise/co-working centre, and food start-up hub may provide the best of most worlds.” 

The report said the building could deliver annual turnover of €500,000 following its refurbishment. The building has a chequered history, originally built as an Assembly Room, used by the officer class of the British army and the local gentry, it also had a library and reading rooms and was the centre of social occasions.

After it was burned down during the Civil War, along with Charles Fort, the army barracks and the RIC barracks, it was rebuilt by the Town Council to house their office and the town library.

“We’ve been trying for years to get this project up and running – a project that we have the funding for that would add huge investment to the town, but it feels like we’ve reached a stalemate,” Alan Clayton of Future Kinsale told the Irish Examiner.

Within the feasibility report, it noted that the county council declared the municipal building unfit for (any) purpose in 2015, and that “repair of the building from the hands of potential private ownership had been the express wish of local residents since that declaration.” 

Arguing why the community hub had to be in the municipal hall, Mr Clayton said that they had been “priced out” of the market for private properties in Kinsale and that their plans to make the hub a co-op made it harder for them to find an alternative building.

“Kinsale needs a place like this. With so many people in the town working from home, Wi-Fi across the town is simply unreliable. Not everyone has the space to work from home either, and other people just miss the human interaction that comes with working from an office.

Co-working spaces have become increasingly popular in both urban and rural locations providing modern office space without significant capital costs. The Covid pandemic saw an acceleration of such facilities with a significant global shift towards flexible working arrangements.

Earlier this month, the Republic of Work which operates a hub on Cork's South Mall expanded its operations opening a new hub in Clonmel. 

“We’ve seen the success of the Ludgate Hub in Skibbereen and the Republic of Work in the city, now we want that for ourselves so the people of Kinsale can comfortably work in their home town and give back to their local economy.” 

“This will add employment and investment to the community and will alter people’s reliance on cars which will help the climate and congestion. To us, it just seems like a no-brainer, it’s unfortunate that the council don’t see it the same way.” 

The Irish Examiner contacted Cork County Council for comment.

Reporting: The Irish Examiner