About
Meath County Council's Community Response Forum Activated to Provide Assistance to Worst Affected Areas of County After Storm Éowyn
Ongoing
Navan Cultural Quarter: Community Hub & County Archive
Navan Cultural Quarter: Community Hub & County Archive
A transformative urban regeneration project in the heart of Navan which provides for:
- The conservation, restoration, and adaptive reuse of the former St Finian’s Seminary Study Hall (and former St Patrick’s Classical School), which is a nationally important Protected Structure to use as a multi-purpose Community Hub & County Archive and;
- Creating a new civic space with associated public realm enhancements and new urban pedestrian connections.
Objectives and Goals
- Restore and reveal an existing Protected Structure and historic site to address vacancy and dereliction in the town centre of Navan.
- Provide an exciting new public realm and green space, including outdoor amphitheatre, with huge potential for community, civic and creative engagement.
- Create new urban linkages between the medieval core of Navan and the Cultural Quarter, the new strategic town centre expansion area (including the proposed Navan Central Train Station), thus improving urban mobility and permeability.
- Provide an archive repository in accordance with best international standards, which will store and preserve the written documentation that reflects the social, political, commercial and cultural history of Meath.
- Create a permanent, designated, inclusive archive space, available free of charge, which will create new opportunities for the people of Meath and beyond to connect with their history.
Design
The original St Finian’s Study Hall, constructed in the years prior to 1857, is a unique building of national importance. The building footprint is based on the pure mathematical form of an ellipse and points to the advanced education in mathematics and astronomy that formed the basis of the contemporary teaching in St Finian’s at the time. It’s elliptical plan and highly mathematical proportions are unmatched in any surviving building of its age in Ireland.
The proposed design recognises the special mathematical and proportional character of the building and works to preserve, accentuate and expose this special character to a wider audience.
The proposed public realm works will create a new, highly visible public landscaped space for Navan, accessed from Circular Road and linking to the wider Navan Cultural Quarter.
Project Outputs
This project results from evidence-based, plan-led development that considers the holistic needs of Navan and its citizens in the decision-making process.
The project aims to:
- Conserve and restore a vacant Protected Structure while promoting adaptive reuse.
- Create a modern County Archive facility and Community Hub featuring exhibition, lecture, and meeting spaces.
- Develop active public open space that includes a renovated handball alley and new pedestrian access.
- Showcase a 'refurbish first' approach to heritage buildings, serving as a model locally and nationally.
- Revitalize Navan’s town center in line with the Town Centre First policy by addressing vacancy and dereliction.
- Enhance the Navan Cultural Quarter, fostering synergies among cultural institutions like the Solstice Arts Centre and Meath County Library.
- Embrace New European Bauhaus values: sustainability through low-carbon materials, community engagement that caters to diverse groups, and a conservation-led design focused on aesthetics.
- Ensure a sustainable future for the Protected Structure, with environmental sensitivity in mind, and deliver a net biodiversity gain.
- Uphold public sector equality and human rights standards in the facility's operation.
- Comply with Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 for visibility and communication regarding EU funding.
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