Moville Community Group team up with local architect for regeneration project

The reimagining of Moville to be supported under the Irish Architecture Foundation’s Reimagine Hometown Architect initiative

Improving workability, vitality and the sense of belonging in the heritage town of Moville is one of the three new projects selected for development funding under the Irish Architecture Foundation’s (IAF’s) Reimagine Hometown Architect initiative, it has been announced.

Hometown Architect is a key initiative of the IAF’s Reimagine placemaking programme. It supports collaborative projects between local architects and community stakeholders to explore possibilities to regenerate their town centres.

The Moville project aims to reimagine the town, first designed 250 years ago, and create the heritage of the future whilst respecting and complementing its built and natural environment. The project will facilitate a series of inclusive conversations for change that will culminate in a community-sourced vision.

The project aims to address current challenges, including public transport and digital infrastructure disconnectivity, and a lack of viable meeting spaces, especially for young people. Seeing Moville through new eyes, the project team is intent on supporting and strengthening sustainable spaces, full of light and life, where everyone belongs.

The Moville project proposal met the Hometown Architect brief by focusing on issues of particular concern, and on opportunities or innovations for town centre regeneration, in line with the Government of Ireland’s Town Centre First Policy. This policy aims to make town centres across Ireland viable, vibrant and attractive locations for people to live, work and visit.

The team for the Moville Hometown Architect project is led by architect Mary Kerrigan, who is a SPAB Scholar (Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, London) and Sustainable Communities Millennium Fellow, partnering with community stakeholders Clódagh Warnock, founder and director at Ceolan Heritage Group and Ceolan Traditional Music and Harp School, and Anthony Doogan, treasurer, Moville Community Complex Development Company and retired principal of Moville Community College.

“We can’t wait to co-design a whole new future for the town, inviting and welcoming participation by people from all backgrounds, walks of life, ability and ages, to amplify aspirations and ambitions, and accelerate aligned actions, using tried and tested ways that work, to help co-create new possibilities, beyond expectations,” Ms Kerrigan said.

A series of creative workshops run from late-April until the end of May, with the Moville launch event taking place on Wednesday, April 24, at 7:00-9:30pm, in Glencrow Hall.

This is the second round of Hometown Architect, which supports collaborative regeneration projects by architects and community groups in small and medium-sized towns outside of major urban centres.

The Moville project is one of three that have been selected for development funding of €10,000 each plus mentoring and practical support from the IAF’s experienced placemaking team. The other towns are Bailieborough, Co Cavan and Mountrath, Co Laois.

Announcing the new Moville Hometown Architect project, director of the Irish Architecture Foundation, Emmett Scanlon, said: “The team and I are very excited to reveal that Moville is one of this year's selected Hometown Architect projects. This project proves the innovative architectural imagination and strong local ambition that exists right across Ireland for communities to work together to harness the potential of their towns.

“Hometown Architect is one of several Irish Architecture Foundation programmes that seek to build local capacity in towns, empowering communities and supporting architects to imagine and drive change. We in the IAF welcome the continued support of the Government, whose Town Centre First Policy for improving, energising and transforming towns to make them better places to live, work and enjoy, is at the heart of our Hometown Architect programme.”

Hometown Architect is part of the Irish Architecture Foundation’s Reimagine placemaking programme and is funded by the Arts Council and the Department of Rural and Community Development, with additional support to the IAF from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.