The Mill Apartments

Buford T Justice

Guys,

Thought others would be interested in this article about the mill apartments in ballisodare. It shows the shocking state they're in, and how bad the leaks in the roof actually were.

Mould and dampness are chronic, and the vandalism is scandalous, well worth a read. (See you commented on it too, val)

Link

Conor Bourke

A friend of mine was one of the first/only people to move into The Mill, and it was appalling. They were on the top floor and the mildew, mould and damp was unbelievable. I think they only lasted a month or two there, but had horrible difficulty getting out despite the fact that the place was not fit for human habitation- they were locked in a lease with a certain well-known estate agents in town. (In the end they were allowed to move over to a house behind Super-Valu on the same contract or something, but anyhoo...)

I was at a wedding a few months after and spoke to a man who had worked on the building of these apartments. He claimed that there was a number of massively wide and deep flag stones in the original foundation of the old mill building, which were sitting atop some spring wells, and that the workers were ordered to remove them using whatever means necessary. It seems once that happened, the springs... well... sprung, and it was damn near impossible to seal them again.

The current building is an eyesore and a safety risk, but what can be done to rectify the situation? Demolish them, leaving a sort of "ground-zero"? I honestly don't know, has anyone any suggestions?

Radharc na Sleibhte

holy fcuk.

shanec1928

in the article yer man said they were finished in 2006 they were no where near finished at that time. add a year or two to that. thats proof of the celtic tiger. where money was waisted, who would want to live in an apartment in ballysadare not that theres any thing wrong with the place but to build appartment in a village is just a stupid thing to do.

Essexboy

Back in January a bunch of councillors attempted to rezone another nine acres in Ballisodare for housing. :rolleyes:

Buford T Justice

Essexboy wrote: »

Back in January a bunch of councillors attempted to rezone another nine acres in Ballisodare for housing. :rolleyes:

Well, that sounds like a genius idea doesn't it?

fionntan g

some pics i took of it a few months back ,what a disgusting mess.

Radharc na Sleibhte

Presumably nothing like this has happened before. What is gonna happen this building for example? Its unbelievable.

fionntan g

nothing for ages id say ,would cost a fortune to knock/demolish.Developer tried to sell it to the community for 1 euro not so long ago apparantly.

Radharc na Sleibhte

It really does make it real seeing those pictures so local.
Fair play to you.

shanec1928

some photographer there today so i presume it will be in one of the local papers.

fionntan g

was passing by it at around 6.30 am sunday morning and there was 5 or 6 young lads (about 14/15 years old) going door to door on the top level smashing stuff.

Essexboy

forza rovers wrote: »

some photographer there today so i presume it will be in one of the local papers.

Yes, Sligo Today has a big piece about it.

Buford T Justice

Essexboy wrote: »

Yes, Sligo Today has a big piece about it.

http://www.sligotoday.ie/details.php?id=14434

Same pictures as above though, no new ones.

UrbanSea

I was down the back of it before going down to the river,called into one of the apartments with a broken door,couldn't believe the state of the place. Where's the courtyard? Is it up those steps when you go down behind it?

bonzos

As some who went through the torture in recent years in dealing with Sligo county council trying to get planning for a dormer house on my own land I find it sickening that this building was thrown up in such a manner. Joe taxpayer builds a house and the planners will shoot him down if he plants the wrong type of trees in his garden but a developer can erect a death trap and just walk away!All the councilors who vote on the zoning of this land should be made accountable for this disaster....does not say much for homebond either!another case of once they get paid nothing else matters

fionntan g

there's worse developments in ballisodare than the mill.

Must get some pic's.Anyone involved with the building or planning of these must be seriously brain damaged.

bonzos

fionntan g wrote: »

there's worse developments in ballisodare than the mill.

Must get some pic's.Anyone involved with the building or planning of these must be seriously brain damaged.

Wee Pat:rolleyes:

helimachoptor

Looks like the IT picked this up http://www.independent.ie/national-news/apartments-built-on-banks-of-famed-river-lie-in-ruin-2644505.html

Essexboy

Where are Sligo County Council in all this?

According to the Citizens' Information
"You are required by law to make sure your property does not become derelict or contain any dangerous structures. If it does, you must take steps to remedy the situation. Otherwise, you are liable for prosecution by your local authority."
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/environment/planning_and_development_in_ireland/copy_of_derelict_sites_and_dangerous_structures.html

Another case of "we are dealing with people we know" to quote Rosaleen O'Grady?

newwifey

there's worse developments in ballisodare than the mill.

Where?
Having lived in the village my whole life nothing trumps the monstrosity that is the Mill. Its totally out of proportion and out of keeping with a 'village' development. We were one of a tiny number of Irish villages that had a 'Village Design Statement' prepared before the boom hit which laid out guidelines for the types of structures that would suit our streetscape. A copy of this obviously didn't make its way to the planning dept of Sligo CoCo.

Imagine if the original structure of the Mill had been obtained by our current Community Council? We could be blessed with a functioning heritage centre, some small enterprise units or maybe just some open space. Very few villages have the extensive industries/history that Ballisodare has. Milling, mining, salmon weirs, railway etc.

Its a shame

fionntan g

newwifey wrote: »

Where?

the estate beside the thatch/knockspark.

go for a walk around it and see for yourself,what a horrible mess of unstructured crap.

newwifey

the estate beside the thatch/knockspark.

go for a walk around it and see for yourself,what a horrible mess of unstructured crap.

Granted this estate isn't great - I'm unsure if anyone actually lives here. The layout is poor and the density is even worse, especially with the smaller houses. You would be hard pressed to fit a single child one parent family into them. And as bad as it is on the outside - its worse inside. The workmanship is dreadful.

However.....

Its still not as imposing on the village as the Mill. Its just too big, too modern, too ugly

UrbanSea

Is that the place on the left as you're passing through Ballisodare,you can walk in from across Roberto's?

AgileMyth

Depends which way you're passing through;)

It'd be on your left after you come past the small roundabout at Supervalu heading towards Sligo.

UrbanSea

AgileMyth wrote: »

Depends which way you're passing through;)

It'd be on your left after you come past the small roundabout at Supervalu heading towards Sligo.

Sorry I meant the estate they were on about,not the aparments. :cool:

newwifey

Is that the place on the left as you're passing through Ballisodare,you can walk in from across Roberto's?

No, you're talking about 'Ballisodare Centre' which has a paedestrian entrance off main st. We're talking about Carraig Abhainn, next to the Thatch Pub

Vlove

Years later, they are still leaving it to ruin even if they are planning to demolish it. It would have been good enough if they hadn't build the poor apartments near the river.

Buford T Justice

Vlove wrote: »

Years later, they are still leaving it to ruin even if they are planning to demolish it. It would have been good enough if they hadn't build the poor apartments near the river.

We're lucky they could afford to secure it to keep the vandals and asbo youth (think its the BSH these days) out, though they've no doubt found a way in again.

Vlove

Buford T Justice wrote: »

We're lucky they could afford to secure it to keep the vandals and asbo youth (think its the BSH these days) out, though they've no doubt found a way in again.

But we still aren't lucky that we still are in the financial crisis even if they say 'everything's gonna be better', its not enough. Anyways anyone can get through those spiky gates and the brown gate on the left side of the building. I heard that fishermen go down the brown gate but I have my doubts sometimes when I pass the buildings.

dingding

http://www.myhome.ie/commercial/brochure/the-mill-ballisodare-sligo/2842406

Just saw on the property price register that they were sold for 700,000

Hopefully something will be done with this eyesore now.

Vlove

dingding wrote: »

http://www.myhome.ie/commercial/brochure/the-mill-ballisodare-sligo/2842406

Just saw on the property price register that they were sold for 700,000

Hopefully something will be done with this eyesore now.

Let's hope they knock it down because it's nearly falling into the river!

sligono1

Knock it the only job.what a lovely structure was there before I'd love to see the reasoning of the people who granted planning permission in the first place.
If you were a local person trying to get planning for a family home they would put you through the hoops or even refuse you yet the allow a fabulous structure to be levelled and a this mess put in its place.

Agree with you,it should have been left as a heritage site,preserved in some way!

red sean

dingding wrote: »

http://www.myhome.ie/commercial/brochure/the-mill-ballisodare-sligo/2842406

Just saw on the property price register that they were sold for 700,000

Hopefully something will be done with this eyesore now.

Did anyone hear who the purchaser is or what the plans are for it?

Dringe123

Whoever bought it didn't pay big money to knock it. Best keep an eye out for planning notices. Interesting times.

red sean wrote: »

Did anyone hear who the purchaser is or what the plans are for it?

red sean

Dringe123 wrote: »

Whoever bought it didn't pay big money to knock it. Best keep an eye out for planning notices. Interesting times.

Exactly what I was thinking. Interesting times indeed!

voz es

Any update on this folks? drove by today, its awful, it should be dismantled for scrap and the rubble used for road works.

Drag00n79

And the road alongside it is brutal. I hate driving through it