Falling masonry forces closure of Cork city street
Falling masonry has forced the closure of a busy pedestrianised street in Cork city centre.
French Church Street is likely to remain closed for several hours as repairs are carried out to the side of the former Moderne building.
It follows an incident last night when masonry fell from the building.
French Church Street closed off, Cork City Centre. Police and Fire Brigade present. pic.twitter.com/0z85n7EjRV
— Ceallach Ní Bhriain (Kelly O'Brien) (@Kellingtondawg) July 8, 2014
The alarm was raised at around 7pm when a passerby reported seeing masonry falling from the building.
Cork City Fire Brigade responded immediately and conducted an initial inspection.
They found that the reveal around one window had come loose, and that some of the fascia had come away from brick work in another part of the building.
The called in city council engineers and the street was sealed off for safety reasons.
Not sure what's happening on French Church Street tonight! Garda, and fire trucks at the scene! pic.twitter.com/WzViWlPLHE
— Aoife Anne O'Donovan (@a4adrama) July 8, 2014
A senior fire office dismissed reports which emerged last night that a partial roof collapse had occurred.
He said the issue was relatively minor but that the street has to remain closed this morning to allow repair work take place safely.
The building owner has been alerted and it is expected that repair work will take place over the coming hours.
