Kilworth in Cork turns to final year students of architecture for advice on developing the village.
The Kilworth Muintir Community Council engaged fifth year architecture students from Bolton Street College of Technology in Dublin to carry out a survey and to come up with designs for a new look village. The results of the work carried out by the students are now on display in an exhibition in an old church which was taken over by the community council as a cultural centre.
Lynn Glasscoe, Muintir Community Council, speaks about an initiative which has already taken place in the village with the establishment of a business training workshop at the Market House. Kilworth has attracted craftspeople to come and live in the village. Lynn Glasscoe is a Londoner who has made Kilworth her home and works as the training manager at the Community Craft Shop.
It's no longer a dormitory village. There's actually something happening here now.
The council is now looking at how Kilworth might develop further.
The survey by the students from Bolton Street College suggests preserving old buildings, protecting old street signs and business nameplates, preventing plastic fascias, and stopping ribbon development. A new look for the village could be created by developing amenities, introducing more landscaping, moving overhead wires underground, and creating alternative traffic routes.
They want to lower walls around the village which obstruct vision.
Pat O'Connor, Muintir Community Council, is optimistic that a substantial proportion of the survey recommendations will be implemented. The council will use the study to plan any future developments to be made to Kilworth.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 30 April 1984. The reporter is Tom MacSweeney.
