North Main Street in the heart of Cork. City Hall has identified 260 buildings with vacant upper floors. Picture: Howard Crowdy

Conference aims to find out why Cork has so many vacant upper floors

A conference in Cork this month will attempt to find out why so many upper floors in city centre buildings are vacant during a housing crisis.

Data collected by Cork City Council suggests that there are some 260 buildings in Cork City with a total of 423 vacant or under-utilised upper floors.

The majority of these are located in the centre of the city, where 140 vacant upper floors were identified.

These properties could potentially create up to 400 new homes.

Cork City Council is organising the seminar to examine the reasons for urban vacancy and explore possible solutions.

Experts in the field of building control, fire regulations, disability access, architecture, housing, planning, economics and development will deliver up to date information to help us address the problem of vacant, unused spaces in our city and town centres.

The event is targeted towards building owners, auctioneers, architects, engineers, developers, planners and anyone with an interest in how Cork can better utilise upper floors and vacant spaces.

The event will be held at the Nano Nagle Centre, Douglas Street on March 21st. Tickets are available on www.eventbrite.ie