The Mill Apartments

Buford T Justice · 07-05-2011 2:47pm #1

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 · 07-05-2011 4:50pm

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 · 07-05-2011 5:31pm

holy fcuk.

shanec1928 · 07-05-2011 8:21pm

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 · 08-05-2011 7:32pm

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

Buford T Justice · 08-05-2011 8:20pm

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 · 09-05-2011 5:59pm

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

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Radharc na Sleibhte · 09-05-2011 6:11pm

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

fionntan g · 09-05-2011 6:16pm

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 · 09-05-2011 6:22pm

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

shanec1928 · 09-05-2011 7:09pm

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

fionntan g · 09-05-2011 8:25pm

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 · 10-05-2011 11:44am

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 · 10-05-2011 4:48pm

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 · 10-05-2011 5:19pm

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 · 10-05-2011 5:25pm

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 · 11-05-2011 5:47pm

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 · 11-05-2011 7:33pm

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 · 12-05-2011 9:35am

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 · 12-05-2011 12:13pm

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 · 16-05-2011 12:23pm

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 · 17-05-2011 3:54am

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 · 21-05-2011 12:48am

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 · 21-05-2011 12:10pm

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

AgileMyth · 21-05-2011 3:42pm

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 · 21-05-2011 4:06pm

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 · 22-05-2011 1:04am

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 · 18-04-2014 10:04pm

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 · 24-04-2014 2:24am

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 · 24-04-2014 11:08pm

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 · 04-03-2016 11:46pm

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.

The Mill Apartments

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