State agency has exciting plans for historic county Kilkenny bank building

The Kilkenny-based Design & Crafts Council Ireland (DCCI) has applied for permission to transform a historic bank building into a new Centre of Excellence for Ceramics.

The State agency, which is headquartered at the Castle Yard in the city, has plied for a change of use at and development at the former Bank of Ireland building in Thomastown.

In its planning application, DCCI said the proposed works consist of:
*Conservation and restoration works to the original historic building, which includes the refurbishment of existing windows and doors and existing roof finishes;
*The refurbishment of historic ceilings;
*Works to the existing façade of the building, including re-painting works;
*The provision of a new ground floor structure and finishes.

DCCI also wants to carry out “minor internal alterations to existing walls and doors”, as well as “alterations to the existing single-storey flat roof extension to the rear and side of the building”.

It further proposes removing two single-storey external shed structures, to be replaced with “a new single-storey, pitched roof structure for the storage, preparation, and processing of materials, accessed via a covered walkway from the building and the existing vehicular entrance from Marsh’s Street”.

The application also requests permission to construct “a new pedestrian entrance and path” from public carpark at the back of the building.

The historic building has been lying empty since October 2021, when it was one of more than a third of Bank of Ireland branches which shuttered across the country, including banks in Callan and Graignamanagh.