Beamish’s contempt for Cork
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Hi all,
I realise this is a little off-topic as this is not an architectural issue, per se but I thought I’d post it anyway, as it relates to some issues posted in other threads.
I’m working on a pet project to try to shame Beamish & Crawford into tidying up (read renovating) their head office in Cork. The buildings are completely shambolic and falling apart – I have put photo’s on http://www.tomandpilar.net/beamish/ of the buildings so you can judge for yourselves how bad they are.
What’d be really cool is if people would link to this site using the word Beamish as the link (like this: Beamish) – this way, in a short order, internet searches for Beamish will pull up this site.
Thanks,
Tom
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Originally posted by anto
don’t think does front wings look too bad, were never painted why start now? Obviously the rear of the building is shabbyUnfortunately my photographic skills are not up to much so the photo’s don’t show how bad the wings look in reality (esp. when contrasted with the centre portion).
“Why start now?”
Well, why paint any building? Why not let it accumulate dirt over decades?
Pride in their brand would be one reason I would put forward and pride in their environs would be another but looking at the state of disrepair they have allowed their buildings fall into (remember this is their Head Office!) pride is obviously not a word in Beamish’s vocabulary!Thanks for the interest,
RandlePMcMurphy.
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personally I think it could be a beautiful building if maintained properly, a lick of paint and clearing the weeds wouldn’t take too much! Never been in it but from the photograph of the back it is probably fairly manky! would need a few million to bring it up to scratch……..least they could do though is maintain the front.
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Originally posted by Leesider
personally I think it could be a beautiful building if maintained properly, a lick of paint and clearing the weeds wouldn’t take too much! Never been in it but from the photograph of the back it is probably fairly manky! would need a few million to bring it up to scratch……..least they could do though is maintain the front.Couldn’t agree more Leesider and that’s one of the things which annoys me most about the current state of the building – it is a fabulous building and with the proper care and attention, it could be restored to being one of the finest buildings in the city.
RandlePMcMurphy.
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Just to keep you up to speed, I received the following response from Beamish this afternoon:
I received an email from Eamonn O’ Sullivan – the customer Services Director of Beamish today in response to this site and my email to Beamish about it. Eamonn is offering me a tour of the plant – I will be taking up this offer some time after the 12th of August and will post my impressions to this site
Here’s Eamonn’s email:
Dear Mr. Raftery,
Further to your note to our Managing Director, Mr. Alf Smiddy, regarding
the buildings on our site at South Main Street.I am the person responsible for a number of upgrade projects at the Brewery
for 2004/2005, and while acknowledging your comments, I do believe that,
rather than exchanging emails or correspondence via websites, it would be
helpful if you took the time to come and see us here at the Brewery and
perhaps we could update you on our various upgrade plans for the site in
2004/2005.I would be obliged if you could please contact me as soon as possible on my
mobile (08x xxxxxxx), I don’t have a telephone number for you, so we may
agree a time and date. I am out of the country until next Monday, but
will be glad to take your call at any time.Yours sincerely,
Eamonn O’Sullivan
Eamonn O’ Sullivan,
Customer Services DirectorI will be taking Eamonn up on his offer late next week – I’ll report back on how we get on and what if any news comes out of this meeting.
RandlePMcMurphy.
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That Beamish building is lovely. Cork is full of surprises! The crack in the render just needs to be repaired. I wouldn’t paint it:- the unpainted rough cast render may have been the intended finish. It was often used in this type of Tudor Revival/Arts and Crafts design.
Is it a Protected Structure? If so, painting those wings might materially affect the character of the structure and so might not be permitted.
Old buildings shouldn’t necessarily look bright and shiny. Thousands of period buildings in this country have been wrecked by over-restoration. I agree that the buildings at the back do look bad – but even they have interest from an industrial architecture heritage view.
(By the way I think that glass porch has been very insensitively attached onto the handsome 19th century grain store of the Heineken building)
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Originally posted by Devin
That Beamish building is lovely. Cork is full of surprises! The crack in the render just needs to be repaired. I wouldn’t paint it:- the unpainted rough cast render may have been the intended finish. It was often used in this type of Tudor Revival/Arts and Crafts design.
[snip](By the way I think that glass porch has been very insensitively attached onto the handsome 19th century grain store of the Heineken building)
I hear what you are saying about the painting but the building just looks plain dirty Devin!
As for the Heineken building, I was more pointing out the care they have taken of the fabulous cut stone buildings they have (in fact, they appear to be restoring an older cut stone building within the plant at the moment!)
Thanks for the interest,
RandlePMcMurphy.
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If the Beamish HQ is a protected strucutre – the Council could serve a Section 57(2) Notice under the P&D Act 2000 to stop it continuing to be endangered (removal of vegitation, repair of rainwater goods etc). Perhaps get on to the Conservation officer and find out if its protected and if so suggest such a move.
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I always took the Beamish building’s appearance for granted due to the style of building and it’s age. A simple lick of paint could do harm! It’s also important to note that this building is a mere outpost of a much larger foreign company so it might not even register on their radar.
Devin – I agree with your assertion on the porch in the Heineken/Murphy’s building – I always thought it looked kind of clumsy.
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Originally posted by d_d_dallas
I always took the Beamish building’s appearance for granted due to the style of building and it’s age. A simple lick of paint could do harm! It’s also important to note that this building is a mere outpost of a much larger foreign company so it might not even register on their radar.Devin – I agree with your assertion on the porch in the Heineken/Murphy’s building – I always thought it looked kind of clumsy.
I think most people agree that the unpainted parts shouldn’t be painted, but they should be repaired and the general maintenance of the place is a disgrace.
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Keep paint well away – there’s too much happy clappy sunset yellow in this country! The very appeal of the section stems from the fact that it’s rendered – the same applies to so many 1920s & 30s houses, people just itch to paint away their supposed grubbiness – leave them alone!
What a bizzare building – the regional differences in older buildings is great in this country, esp the south differing from the Dublinesque of the north east – so many quirky features completely alien to the almost standardised architecture of the Dublin-influenced area.
That Heineken porch is woeful.
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what about a few hanging flower baskets? Seriously there’s not much wrong with the front of the building but the rear of the building as it backs onto the river could be improved but as it is essentialy a factory not sure how this could be done. I hear the famous Sir Henry’s nearby has been demolished. Anything interesting going up instead?
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respect chap 🙂
The replacement is a mixed development which combines retail, leisure/gym, and appartment. No rave/live venue unfortunately.
With the ccc recent treatment of the Savoy theatre it is a mystery as to how Henrys was allowed to continue for so long, not that I’m complaining.Originally posted by d_d_dallas
No – boring apartments!Long live Henry’s!!!
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Frinailla Developments are constructing 50 new luxury 2-bedroom apartments with 2 roof-top penthouses in a 7-storey over basement car-park mixed use development which will incorporate a retail centre – it is designed by Richard Rainey and Assoc. of Kinsale and constructed by John Paul Construction. Historical excavations are currently ongoing. Nearly all elements of this project (apartments, retail units and the famous 70-90 underground car-parking spaces (which ALL sold for 80,000 euros)) have been sale agreed or sold.
Next door, on the current South Main Street Citi Car-Park, Kenny Developments are to develop a 7-storey over part basement mixed use development with offices, multi-storey car-park, retail outlets, residential units and a 22-bedroom hotel with cantivelered boardwalk. Designed by RKD McCarthy Architects. No construction date has been designated as of yet. Permission for the project was granted on appeal to ABP. A recent amendment to the project to incorporate 64 student apartments was withdrawn.
Though I agree that the Beamish premises is in need of refurbishment, I dispute the phrase ‘contempt for Cork’. Despite amazing financial pressure to relocate, Beamish have displayed a resilience rarely seen these days (which some economically minded may regard as ‘foolish’) in refusing to leave its Cork home – saving numerous jobs at this location. In addition, the brewery has in the past been approached by private developers interested in purchasing land assets currently in possession of the brewery. Most notably on the Wandesford Quay elevation. Though I agree that the main facade of the building on South Main Street is in need of a decent paint job, their premises in need of refurbishment, and the maintainence of the Oval Bar is inexcusable – I don’t agree with the word ‘contempt’ simply based on architectural grounds.I believe, Beamish need to be approached in a positive, encouraging manner by CCC and asked to make substantial adjustments and improvements to their premises. In addition, Beamish could benefit themselves from refurbishment and thus offer tourist based Brewery Tours. They could offer elements of their premises up for private development sale too as a means of attaining capital and contributing to the much needed redevelopment of their site.
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Apologies for not responding to the various posts on this thread but I was away last week until the end of the week.
I had a meeting with Beamish on last Friday 13th and they told me “There is nothing you can do that will make us change this”!
To put this comment in context, I was invited to a meeting in Beamish where I met with 3 executives from Beamish Eamonn O’Sullivan, customer services director; Stephen Murphy financial director and Jim D’Arcy production director. They told me that the discussions were to be considered confidential as there was information they were giving me which could be considered commercially sensitive so I won’t go into any of the specifics mentioned.
Basically what they said was they are aware of the state of the building but that they are under commercial pressures and that the commercial pressures force them to prioritise other projects before the restoration of their buildings or put another way Beamish knows about the state of the buildings but doesn’t feel strongly enough about it to spend the necessary money on restoration.
Then they asked me, in light of this new information, would I take the site down?!!!
Of course, I said no – my logic was that if I left the site up that might put pressure on them and force the restoration up their list of priorities – taking the site down would do nothing for the buildings.
This is when they told me that there was nothing I could do which would make any difference to their priorities. Then they said they were very disappointed with my decision to leave the site up, thank you and goodbye. It was unbelieveable, having said I was going to leave the site up and giving my reasons, I was more or less thrown out – very politely, Stephen showed me to the door and said “Eamonn says goodbye”!
I can understand that they have competitive pressures – what business doesn’t – but they seriously expected that having told me that, that I would immediately take the site down, thereby taking away any reason for them to do anything about it.
By the way, the site is currently 21st in Google’s found set in searches for the term Beamish, 7th in searches on search.msn.com and 6th in Yahoo! – thanks to everyone who has linked to the site so far. If anyone else could link to the site using the word Beamish as the link (i.e. Beamish) I would be delighted – do it in a blog or a site link – either works.
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whatever happened to that site a few years ago http://www.realcork.com, some guy shaming the Cork Corpo about litter and crappy paving etc.
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Originally posted by chewy
the only reaon they invited you there was to tell you to shut the site, i have to agree with everyone else the wings look as they should.. i presume “a lick of paint” was only a phrasethe back looks terrible is it seen?
well done i guess keep it up
The back is seen – not from South Main Street where the front is – but from Crosses Green Quay, Wandesford Quay and French’s Quay. To see where these are have a look at the map of Cork available at http://www.corkcorp.ie/maps/cc_main_map_03.html.
Thanks for the interest,
RandlePMcMurphy,
Beamish -
Originally posted by anto
whatever happened to that site a few years ago http://www.realcork.com, some guy shaming the Cork Corpo about litter and crappy paving etc.Interesting Anto, I was that “some guy”!
I put realcork.com together and it got a lot of publicity too. It was a personal project which grew very quickly and I was unable to maintain the momentum it generated (I had a day job too!).
Glad to see it is still remembered!
Thanks,
RandlePMcMurphy,
Beamish -
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Originally posted by anto
so does Cork still need such a website? Things have improved in the meantime?Some things have improved Anto – a lot of the potholes have gone (many of the roads have been re-surfaced) but the streets are still a mess. The main street has been completely re-surfaced as well. New paving and a new road layout have improved it to a certain extent, however the new paving has, in many places, been layed carelessly. Gaps in between the cut stone paving have been filled with tarmac! And the paving is not being maintained so already it is stained with chewing gum, and drink stains – in many European cities paving like this is maintained by power washing it nightly – this is not being done in Cork so it is deteriorating rapidly.
So, in short, to answer your question Anto, a site like realcork.com is still needed despite some improvements in the city.
RandlePMcMurphy
Beamish -
Hi all,
just a quick mail to report back on the progress of the campaign to get Beamish to do something about the appalling state of their Head Office in Cork. Doing a web search on Google now for the term Beamish and Crawford – the Beamish site comes up at no. 3! It comes up at no. 4 on Dogpile, no. 6 on Yahoo and no. 9 on search.msn.com.
This is an amazing result – thanks to everyone who has helped to make this happen – a few more links and we’ll make no. 1.
I also found an interesting report on the website of Scottish & Newcastle (the owners of Beamish and Crawford plc) – it is called Full Principles and Values Report (available at http://www.scottish-newcastle.com/sn/cr/crpublications/principles/) where it says Scottish & Newcastle “are also fully aware of our responsibilities to the environment and the community”. I sent them an email to corporate.responsibility@scottish-newcastle.co.uk asking them how they square this report with the pictures of the Beamish Head Office on the site.
I await their reply with interest!
Cheers,
RandlePMcMurphy.
Beamish
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