Breathing space

When is a concert hall not a concert hall? When it's the central space of Cork's main local authority building City Hall - and has no dressing rooms, green-room, rehearsal rooms or any of the other normal facilities performers expect, writes Mary Leland. These deficiencies haven't daunted the eclectic array annually scheduled at the City Hall. But all is to be changed: not only is the existing hall to be refurbished but a new performance centre is to be built beside it.

The space is to be gained by the expedient of roofing over existing courtyards: dressing rooms; bathrooms; orchestral rehearsal space; seating for more than 300 people; an outside-broadcast television studio; ticket and cloakroom facilities and wheelchair access; a kitchen shared with the main hall and therefore available for major civic banquets (the aim is enough dining and conference-room for 1,500 people at a time) . . . all are to be installed as part of a £4.7 million millennium development. The new hall will be an important addition to Cork's short list of performance areas, will be immediately adjacent to a new multi-storey car-park and part of an over-all plan for extending and improving City Hall as a municipal one-stop-shop.